


Slipping through time

by BlazingStarInInkyBlackness



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Author is salty, But it's Tracer sooooo a couple seconds later it isn't an injury at all, Canonical Character Death, Child Abuse, F/F, Foster Care, Found Families, Genderfluid Omnic, Growing Up, If you count being shot/ exploded as minor, Minor Injuries, Omnic Racism, Origin Story, Original Character Death(s), Panic Attacks, Team as Family, lot of crying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 10:04:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10554472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlazingStarInInkyBlackness/pseuds/BlazingStarInInkyBlackness
Summary: Tracer was the poster girl for Overwatch, the woman everyone looked to as she blinked across the world and saved lives. She was the figure head of everything that was good in the world, everything Overwatch represented.Lena was the girl who ripped down Overwatch posters and cursed them to hell and back for what they'd done to her city. Lena was the girl who fought back, knowing it could kill her. Lena was the girl who wouldn't join Overwatch in a million years.This is how Lena grew to Tracer, with a lot of bumps in the road.





	

**Author's Note:**

> HEY! GUYS" FUNNY! STORY! I DECIDED TO WRITE AN OVER WATCH TRACER FIC! YOU KNOW THAT CAUSE YOU'RE READING IT! Wanna hear the punchline? I WROTE IT! ON THE SAME FUCKING DAY! THEY GAVE US A COMIC ABOUT THIS!  
> *sigh*

Lena grew up loathing Overwatch. She knew that all of the propaganda about them being heroes was bullshit. The mess that they’d left the world in wasn’t the world their posters spoke of. Every time she saw one of the posters she’d rip them down. They didn’t belong on the streets of London, in her London. Maybe they belonged in the metropolis but that wasn’t Lena’s London. That was the London of people who didn’t need dreams because they could do whatever they wanted to.

Lena’s London was cold alleys and lost jobs. It looked like the kind of place you didn’t want to walk around at night but Lena knew better. Night was when the other citizens came out.

While Omnics were banished to the underground they rose at night to buy what they wanted. They walked the streets with bowed heads, as if they believed the same bullshit that Overwatch represented; the only people are humans.

Each night Lena would slip out of the foster house and talk to the few that would talk back. The Omnics were split into two categories; those who believed that they were people and those who didn’t. Whenever Lena tried to talk to the ones who didn’t believe they’d just ignore her.

She grew up knowing that her friends were regularly looked down on, were hurt and sometimes even killed. She tried to help where she could but she had always been short for her age and too skinny. She didn’t have the strength to fight against anyone who could destroy an Omnic.

When she was twelve she decided to test that theory.

Someone was attacking Moore, an Omnic who had only recently admitted that they had emotions, that they weren’t just a machine. Lena heard the screams of an Omnic, the whirring and grinding of gears that meant the same thing for anyone who would listen.

Lena took off running. She was terrified that she wouldn’t be fast enough, she always wasn’t. She ran into the alley and saw two men with bats standing over Moore who wasn’t even fighting back.

“Get away!” Lena shouted. The two men turned around and Moore let out a whirr to tell her to back off.

“Or what?” One of the men asked, walking forwards. The bat he was holding had nails embedded in them and as Lena stared at it she could feel rage building in her. She let out a scream and leapt forwards.

The man began to swing wildly but Lena didn’t let him get a hit in, staying just out of the swing and then darting in. The other man joined in after a few moments and caught Lena in the head with his bat. Lena fell to the floor, stunned for a moment.

“Run home girl. We’re protecting you.”

“No you’re fucking not.” Lena snarled out before pushing herself up. She latched her teeth around one of the man’s forearms which made him drop the bat. She then kneed him in the crotch and pushed him back. She turned to the other one who just shook his head and went to his partner.

“They’re nothing. They’re slaves we created. We won’t be safe until we kill them all.”

“You’re a whole lot more dangerous than Moore!”

“It has a name?” The man shook his head. “You’re a kid. You won’t understand.”

Lena glared at them as they strode off. She then turned back to Moore and offered her hand for the Omnic to take. Moore stared at her for a moment before they took the hand.

“You shouldn’t have done that Lena.”

“They shouldn’t have done what they did.”

“We are not human Lena. We do not have your rights.”

“You should! It’s not fair that you don’t!”

“This world is very rarely fair.” Moore let out the equivalent of a sigh and nodded to Lena. “I need to go.”

“Are you going to be safe?” Lena asked. “I could come with you.”

“I am going to the underground Lena. You are not allowed.”

“But you came to the surface for a reason tonight! Why?”

“It does not matter.”

“Please love, tell me.”

“I came for a book.”

“Which one? I can grab it for you and give it to another Omnic.”

“Lena-”

“Go on! I can do it!”

“There are a group of monks who call themselves the Shambali. The book is called ‘Enter the Iris’.” Moore hesitated before they handed Lena a few notes.

“Okay. I got it. Go back underground and rest up.”

“Thank you Lena. You are truly something special.”

“Nah love, I’m just trying to make up for the shit the rest of us have done.”

 

After that night it happened more often. Lena began to carry her own bat. When the foster family kicked her out again she didn’t care. They’d never been her family, not really. The family she had was Moore and every other Omnic like them.

Lena began to be a legend. She found it funny.

The Omnic defender was meant to walk the streets every night and strike fear into any human’s heart. Lena knew that was bullshit. She’d lost plenty of the fights, had been left bruised and beaten in an alley. She wasn’t a legend, she was just trying to make it right.

When the next foster family kicked her out Lena gave up. The system had never done jack shit for her. She was still technically fostered but she spent her days at Omnic construction sites. She became their chirper, bringing them whatever they wanted.

A lot of them grew more and more interested in the Shambali and eventually she caved and read the books. She wasn’t one for books, not really.

Enter the Iris was different. It talked about the differences between Omnics and humans and how human doesn’t mean person and Omnic doesn’t mean not a person. It talked about how an Omnic isn’t a human but an Omnic should never strive to be a human, just as a human shouldn’t strive to be an Omnic.

Lena began talking to the other Omnics and found anger growing. The anger didn’t make her scared, it made her excited. She knew they needed anger. The Shambali could preach peace all they wanted to, Lena knew peace wasn’t an option in London, not yet.

As the anger to humans rose so did Lena’s anger to Overwatch. She’d always hated them but they were spreading across the globe like a cancer. There was talk of setting up in Numbani, the haven between Omnics and humans she longed London to be.

Everywhere Overwatch went they just reminded people that Omnics had once fought them. Overwatch seemed to be all too happy to ignore the God programs, the place the blame entirely on the Omnic’s shoulders.

Lena and Moore organised the first protest. It was peaceful until the police themselves came down. Lena had been in the middle, letting the Omnics take the front. One moment she was grinning as she held a sign over her head. They were changing something, she was undoing the work Overwatch had started.

The next moment she heard gunfire and screams. The crowd of peaceful Omnics dispersed, pushing her along with it. She screamed out for the police to stop, that the Omnics weren’t bad, that they were peaceful. As she made her way to the edge of the crowd Moore grabbed her.

Moore’s metal body was far stronger than Lena who still hadn’t filled out. Moore manhandled her away from the police and the screams she could still hear. The Omnics ran through the streets and Lena hated it. They were going underground, were going where they knew they were safe because no human wanted to go down there.

When the crowd entered the underground there was suddenly a cacophony of Omnic noises, the whirring and grinding Lena understood as fear, fear and anguish. She was too busy staring at the underground. She’d never been there. Moore had always told her she wasn’t allowed and she’d listened to them.

As soon as an Omnic spotted Lena the entire Underground fell silent. She glanced around and Moore pulled her closer.

“Humans aren’t allowed here Moore.”

“She has protected us all.”

“All the more reason to keep her out! She is still a child!”

“There are plenty of us who are younger!” Moore shouted out. “She chose to protect us when she didn’t need to. She should have been allowed in here a long time ago!”

“She is a person Moore. This place is not for people.”

“That’s not true.” Lena piped up. The Omnics turned to her and she met their gaze. “I ain’t no Omnic I know but I ain’t sure I’m a person either. I’m human but that don’t make me any better than you. I wanna help you.”

“We cannot be helped.” Rankine, an Omnic Lena had known for years, spoke up.

“You can and you have to believe that! You can’t give up now!”

“We have nothing Lena.” Rankine stepped towards Lena. “You are a human so-”

“I’m a human who ain’t got an education. All of you are smarter than me! You’re all-” Lena sighed and pulled her studded jacket closer. The underground was cold.

“You have a voice. We do not.”

“Then use my voice! Let me-”

“Five of us are dead because we tried that.” Cowan’s voice was hard and Lena blinked in confusion.

“What?”

“Cowan, do not frighten her. She is-”

“She organised it.” Cowan overrode Moore. “She needs to understand that her actions have consequences.”

“I bloody well-” Before Lena could finish speaking Cowan was projecting a video onto the opposite wall. Lena stared at the protest she’d been a part of just a few minutes ago.

“This was Oxton’s footage.”

Lena stared as the police appeared, as they didn’t even hesitate before they opened fire at the protesters. The police was suddenly replaced with a vision of the sky, something Oxton always loved. Lena watched in horror as she heard gears wind to a halt and the footage slowly cut off.

“No. No!” Lena shouted.

“Five of us are dead.” Cowan repeated. “Lena you have helped but you need to stop. We all need to accept that this is what we are. We belong underground. We can cope with the light of the moon, we don’t need the sun.”

“You don’t deserve that!” Lena could feel tears pricking at her eyes and Cowan just sighed.

“You’re young Lena. One day you’ll understand that what someone deserves is very different to what they have. Go home.”

“I ain’t got one!”

“You have humanity. That is your home.”

“You can’t just kick me out!”

“Lena,” Moore whispered. Lena turned to them. “This is not the right time.”

“I-”

“Come on.” Moore took her hand and led her out. When they were at the very edge of the underground Moore released her.

“So that’s it? You just- you just stay underground forever?”

“Maybe one day it’ll change. Maybe one day we’ll be equal but not yet. We need to do it peacefully and-”

“Fuck peacefully! They opened fire on _peaceful_ civilians!”

“We’re not civilians Lena. Go to your foster parents. Lay low for a few days. There won’t be many Omnics up top for a while.”

“Okay.” Lena felt tears gathering in her eyes and she swiped them away. “I never thought- Oxton-”

“She knew what she was risking.”

“She ain’t meant to risk anything.”

“One day it’ll be better Lena. We’ll remember Oxton. We’ll remember all of the people we’ll lose.”

“I don’t wanna lose you.”

“You won’t. I promise.”

 

When Lena got back to the foster house the woman who passed for the mother was there. They shouted for a while until the woman slapped Lena to the floor and kicked her in the side. Lena ran to her room and it was then that she broke down.

Five deaths were on her hands. The world she’d built for herself was gone. The family she’d chosen was gone. She cried for what felt like hours and when she finally had no tears left to give she went to her laptop.

She got every angle of the footage she could scrape together. Some of the bystanders had taken pictures and videos, the police had some body cameras and the Omnics had been recording. She packaged each of them up in one tidy folder before she posted it everywhere.

Even if she couldn’t visit the family Oxton had she could make damn sure everyone could see Oxton’s last moments.

That was the hardest video to watch but she did.

She finished it with cursing Overwatch, calling them out on the bullshit they’d done for years. She got responses almost immediately, some condemning what she was saying and others congratulating her.

The one she stared at the longest was from someone called Mondatta.

He wrote that her cause was noble, that she should continue to fight but she should not fight. She should spread her understandings and only then should she continue to fight. He said that the world could always use more heroes and he was glad she’d be one of them. She sent back that it was bullshit, that they had to stand up now not wait for people to understand.

He laughed at that, far away in Nepal. He had a feeling that this woman was going to change the world.

The responses differed country to country. Russia’s response was full of hatred while Nepal’s response was praising and sorrowful in equal amounts.

Still, Overwatch said nothing. Lena felt that hatred in her gut grow.

The one downside to releasing every angle and then forcing the internet to see it was that her foster family saw it, saw Lena at the centre of an Omnic rights protest.

They beat her again and afterwards she told herself that she didn’t care. She had chosen her family a long time ago and it wasn’t any of the shitty families she’d been assigned. She convinced herself that she was fine, that it didn’t hurt that badly being hurt by people who were meant to protect her.

After that she began to spend more time outside. She spent a lot of time in the underground and she felt the anger of the Omnics rising again. She dyed her hair pink at some point, wore ripped jeans and a studded jacket. She still walked the streets with a bat and she didn’t care how much damage was done to her.

She was trying to save the world.

At sixteen years old she was caught. Someone who had been on the other side of her bat called her out and had her arrested. She didn’t co-operate, arguing that it had been self-defence, that she’d been protecting her fellow citizen.

The judge stared down at her.

“Are you the same girl who released the videos of the failed Omnic rights march?”

“Yeah I am. What’s it matter to you?”

“I have two choices here Lena Russo.” Lena glared at that name. It was her foster parent’s name. It wasn’t hers. “I can either send you to jail for the next ten years,” Lena felt the air rush out of her at those words. She’d be twenty six before she could live her life again. “Or I could draft you into military service.”

“What? I’m sixteen! I ain’t exactly.”

“Those are your choices Lena.”

Lena stared at him for a long moment before she sighed.

“Military.”

 

That was the beginning of a whole new chapter of her life. She raced to the underground and hugged Moore so close because she didn’t want to leave this family. The Omnics didn’t want her to leave but they accepted it, accepted that she had to go.

“Never stop fighting,” Lena snarled out, “got it? There are so many people out there who don’t get it yet. If they don’t understand we’ll beat it into them.”

“Be careful Lena.” Moore counselled.

“You too.”

She was in her CO’s office the next day. He started by staring at her for a long time.

“Are we going to do something or are we just gonna stare at each other?” Lena asked. The man smiled faintly.

“You need to sort out some paperwork first.” He slid it forwards and gestured for her to sit.

Lena sat down and started to scratch out the answers. She handed it back and the man looked it over.

“You haven’t filled in your surname.”

“Ain’t got one.”

“You-” The man frowned. “Then put down a name.”

Lena stared at the paper for several long moments. What surname could she put? None of the Omnics had surnames in the traditional sense, just a manufacturing number that they never used. Lena didn’t even know Moore’s.

“It doesn’t have to be something special. Think of a friend, someone who inspires you. If not then put down Smith.”

Lena looked up at that and smiled. She knew her name.

 

“Cadet Oxton!”

Lena stepped forwards. The pink hair had been chopped off, most of her hair had been chopped off. She didn’t get to keep any of the clothes she came in with. She got assigned clothes, they all did. It seemed like the first step of fighting was to strip every one of their personality. Then they built it back up in their own image.

Lena wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Yes sir.” Lena called out.

“Come to the front cadet.” Lena walked forwards. “Do you think you’re better than everyone else?”

“No sir.”

“Do you think you’re better than Jack Morrison? Do you think you’re doing the world a favour spreading your filthy language around the barracks?”

“Yes sir I do.”

“What did you just say to me?”

“I answered your question sir.”

“Really?” The man stepped forwards until Lena could feel his breath on her face. The man stared at her for several long moments before he punched her in the gut. She doubled over before standing straight again. “That’s tantamount to treason Oxton.”

“That’s tantamount to abuse of power sir.” Lena spat out the last word and the man glared at him.

“Give me fifty.”

Lena dropped down and started the set. She felt her arms wavering but she pushed through t. There was no way she was going to let this asshole hit her and get away with it. She stood when she was done and stared at the man.

“Fall in.”

She turned on her heels and half marched back into the squadron.

“Today we’re going to have an exam on the aerodynamic theories. Everyone here needs to understand the basics of flight before they get anywhere near an aircraft. If any of you fail,” the man stared at Lena, “then you will be expected to catch up in your spare time.”

Lena stared ahead, not even turning to the man in the slightest. She had studied, she was going to pass.

 

She failed.

Lena stared down at the paper in front of her and growled. After a few moments a girl walked up to her. She was much taller than Lena and probably about nineteen. Lena was the youngest in her squad by a long way.

“H-hello.” The girl muttered. Lena turned to her and smiled.

“Hello love. Who might you be?”

“Veronica. That’s my first name I mean. We’re not just uh- surnames here.”

“It’s pretty weird that.”

“I just wanted to say what you did earlier was uh, it was pretty amazing.”

“Thanks love. Most people just tell me to shut up.”

“I know a lot of Omnics back home who would- they’d love you for what you did.”

“Where’re you from then?”

“Cornwall.”

“Ain’t got much of an accent.”

“I spent most of my time with Omnics.”

“Me too.”

“I saw the footage of that protest after it happened. It was- it was terrible.”

“Yeah.” Lena sighed. “It didn’t get much done.”

“What? It- it did. The Omnics at home were proud. London is the worst apparently but the Omnics there were brave enough to march. The global response was astounding. Even the Shambali responded.”

“Really? You might have that wrong love. I looked at every response.”

“Apparently Tekartha Mondatta responded.”

“Who?”

“He’s one of the Shambali. He wants to spread his message across the world.”

“Oh. I remember him actually.”

“What happened?”

“I told him that what he was saying about peace was bullshit.”

“Y- you told Tekartha Mondatta that…” Veronica trailed off and Lena shrugged.

“It was. Ain’t gonna get nowhere if we bury our heads in the sand.”

“Oh.” Veronica seemed to not know what to say to that. “What did you get on the test?”

“Failed it.” Lena pushed it to Veronica who looked over it. She frowned.

“That isn’t right…”

“What?”

“You got the same answers as me and I passed.”

“What?”

“This- this isn’t the right grade.”

“So someone messed with it?”

“Yeah. Probably.”

“That’s messed up.”

“Go to the CO.”

“Just for a test?”

“Lena, they’re going to let us fly next week if we pass this test.”

Lena frowned at that. She didn’t really _want_ to fly. She was perfectly happy with two feet on the ground. She had only chosen the RAF because she was a coward. She didn’t want to see someone’s face when they died. She wanted to see everything, wanted to see the villages and towns that she could protect by killing.

“Okay.” Lena shrugged and picked up her test. She walked to the CO’s office. She knew she wasn’t meant to do this but she didn’t care. She had contemplated making them discharge her but she knew that would push her into prison.

She knocked on the door and waited until he opened it. She immediately saluted and he saluted in response.

“What do you want Cadet Oxton?”

“I think the drill sergeant don’t like me and is trying to fail me.”

“Why do you think this?”

“Well earlier today he decided to punch me cause I didn’t shut up but side from that I got the same answers on a test as someone else but I failed and they passed.”

“The drill sergeant hit you?”

“Nothing I couldn’t cope with but yeah.”

“Do you have witnesses?”

“The whole squadron was there sir.”

“Give me your paper. I’ll sort this problem out.”

“Yes sir.” Lena saluted and walked off. She lay back on her bed as night fell and let her eyes slide shut with a smile on her face.

The next day there was a new drill sergeant.

 

When they finally started to fly Lena hung back. Each of them were assigned an experienced fighter pilot to actually fly the plane as they just experienced it. She was the last to fly. Bennet, the pilot, instructed her how to do up the straps and then how to exit the plane if everything went wrong.

Lena was suddenly very glad of her short stature.

“Okay so we’re going to take off now. It might be disorientating to begin with but when we’ve evened out it should be fine.”

“Sounds good.” Lena muttered. She knew she shouldn’t be nervous but she was. She’d been shot at, had fought men three times her weight and twice her height. A flight shouldn’t scare her this much.

As the engine rumbled around her she wondered if she’d made the wrong choice. Maybe the Navy would have been better. Then again, she thought, she did get really sea sick.

When the jet began to race down the runway she felt a sick kind of excitement. When it finally took off her stomach dropped and she couldn’t quite breathe.

“There’s a sick bag under your seat.” Bennet said in amusement. Lena shook her head.

“This is amazing.” She muttered. Bennet looked at her in surprise.

“Do you want to fly it?”

“What? I ain’t got experience!”

“You know the theory though.”

“Yeah but-”

“You have control.”

“I have control.” Lena repeated as she grabbed the stick and took a deep breath in. This was what she’d trained for. She glanced at all of the dials and found that she understood them.

“Okay, keep us flat.”

“Yeah.” Lena muttered back. Keeping it flat wasn’t very difficult. They flew straight for a bit until Bennet suggested they fly up a bit. Lena nodded and rose. It felt like her heart was in her throat, as if it wasn’t just the jet flying but her body as well, as if she was part of the plane.

“Turn back now.”

Lena paused before she grinned. This was not what she was meant to do. She excelled at doing that.

She jerked down on the stick, forcing the jet to climb rapidly. Bennet let out a yelp of surprise. Lena just grinned. She felt the jet rise and rise until it began to stall. Just before it did she evened it out upside down.

It was the kind of exhilaration she’d never felt before, an excitement that she barely understood. Bennet yelled out something but Lena ignored it. She navigated the jet upside down as she felt it begin to drop. The aerodynamics had actually been helpful.

The jet didn’t want to be upside down, didn’t want to fly like that and Lena knew that she was losing speed and height at every moment. She waited and then pushed the jet into a barrel roll which evened it out. It was heading in the complete other direction than it had been.

She grinned at Bennet to find him looking quite green.

“There’s a sick bag under your seat.” Lena grinned.

 

“What the hell were your thinking? You could have killed yourself and Bennet! You are a cadet and you have no experience flying a jet!”

“I do now.” Lena responded. Her drill sergeant growled quietly.

“Now I understand why you were transferred to my squad. This is not acceptable behaviour Oxton!”

“I didn’t put anyone’s life in danger. I knew what I was doing. I did it didn’t I?”

“Your rations are now halved.”

“You think I give a shit?” Lena snarled out. She’d survived on almost nothing before, whether it be because of her foster parents or the lack of money.

“I think you should! You-”

“Hartley, back off.” Bennet jumped down from his jet and watched the two of them. “Oxton is right. I wasn’t in danger.”

“She has no experience and-”

“And she just performed a manoeuvre that took me three years to learn. I think there’s very little point in threatening her with anything. Oxton.”

“Yes sir?”

“Did you know what you were doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Had you seen that manoeuvre performed before?”

“No sir.”

“Then how did you do it?”

“Just thought it up. Figured I might as well try it.”

“Hartley, if you don’t want to keep Oxton on your squadron then I am more than happy to have her in mine.”

“You don’t have a squadron.”

“I do.”

“Not a cadet squadron.”

“I know.”

“You’re suggesting that because she performed one good manoeuvre she should skip the rest of her training?”

“The rest of her training is learning how to go solo. I can teach her that quickly and then teach her everything else.”

“Your squadron is one of the best. She is sixteen years old!”

“And has more raw talent than most of my squadron. Either you can accept me asking me to transfer her or you can get the order from the CO in a few hours.”

Hartley stared at Bennet for several long moments before sighing.

“If she causes problems-”

“Please don’t finish that sentence. I have a feeling she’s going to cause nothing but problems.”

 

Lena picked things up very quickly. She picked the flying up easily. The theory behind it took time and a lot of painful work but she did it. She met each of her new squad mates and they all took something of a shine towards her.

None of them were under twenty one and while it was a bit off putting Lena had spent most of her life around people not her own age. Omnic ages were all a  bit odd.

The joy of flight took up most of her time. When she was awake she was either studying or flying. They flew flight pattern after flight pattern. They flew different jets and swapped positions. They dropped some people out to see how the squad would react to losing a squad mate. They sent some on flanking missions. Lena seemed to excel at that.

While she could fight in the main group she preferred to fall to the ground in a dizzying spiral, right herself at the last moment and soar up to attack from beneath or behind.

She loved the flight so much that sometimes she almost forgot the shit show that was London.

One night her squad mates were watching the news and she was trying to study.

“Turn it down.” Lena muttered.

“It’s London.” One of them said quietly. “It’s-”

Lena looked up and gaped in horror. There was a picture, a snap shot, of Omnics and humans facing each other, both ready to kill.

“What’s going on?” Lena asked as she all but ran to the screen.

“Humans were trying to shift the robots. They refused. Makes sense.”

“Fuck off.” Lena snapped out. “They’re people just like us.”

“They’re made of metal!”

“And we’re made of meat! It don’t change anything!”

“You’re from London, surely you know how dangerous these machines are.”

“They ain’t dangerous!” Lena shouted. She stared at the screen and pointed at one of the Omnics. “That’s Stein. He’s got a half gold head because some humans beat him up and smashed his head in. It nearly got his chip and by the time I found him he was half dead! I got him that gold and I made sure he was better!” Lena pointed at another one. “That’s Morley. She used to watch cartoons all the time because she wasn’t built to be strong so she ain’t allowed outside apart from at night-time. All of those Omnics can only really get out at night and then they get beat up!”

“How do you know all that?” The squad mate asked quietly.

“Cause I made sure they didn’t get hurt! I hurt every bastard who tried to hurt my friends.”

“They’re robots…” The man didn’t sound so sure anymore.

“Don’t mean they’re not people.”

“They’re rioting.” Another squad mate said. “The last time that happened-”

“I lost five friends. I collected every scrap of evidence and showed the world Omnics ain’t what they think they are. Omnics don’t wanna rule the world or some bullshit. They wanna be able to live in peace. They ain’t just robots, they’re people.” Lena stared at the screen.

“What do you think will happen?”

“I dunno.”

“Overwatch is going to step in.”

“Fuck them.” Lena spat out.

“What?”

“Overwatch did nothing when those five Omnics were killed. They didn’t make a statement or even talk to me about it. They won the war and then decided to carry on when all the god programs were gone. They’re filth and I don’t want anything to do with them.”

“Morrison is coming here tomorrow.”

“What?”

“He’s giving a speech. Everyone has to go.”

“I’m not going.”

“Yes you are.” Bennet cut in. “Whatever your personal beliefs are I can’t have a squad member fail to show up for Strike Commander Morrison. You will attend.”

“Sir-”

“It’s non-negotiable Oxton. If you don’t then you won’t get off the ground for the next month.”

 

Lena sat in her seat as she watched Morrison take the stage. He was the picture of the perfect American boy. He had blond hair, blue eyes and a gun in his holster. He smiled down at the crowd and shuffled the cards in his hand.

“I am grateful that you all took the time out of your training to hear me talk. I don’t know if my own team mates would do that anymore.”

Great, Lena thought, he’s going to try and be funny.

“Now then, I’m going to start with the obvious. I haven’t visited England in many years. There are still no English Agents within Overwatch. We are developing a plane which we hope one of you will be able to fly but that’s beside the point. I have not been here because of the tension in London between the Omnics and Overwatch.”

Lena frowned at that and sat up slightly. She didn’t think he would touch on that. There were murmurs in the crowd which he ignored.

“Since the first Omnic rights peaceful march was broken up by police we have not interfered because Overwatch is not the law. We enforce the laws which stand but if England does not want our help we cannot force them to accept the Omnics. That changes now. We represent a task force to make the world a better place for all of its people. Omnics included. They are not our enemies, hatred is. That is the enemy we must rally each other to fight against.”

Lena watched the rest of the speech in confusion. Morrison moved on quickly but his words stuck with Lena.

Hating Overwatch was part of who she was. Hating Overwatch helped her from hating humanity for exiling the people she viewed as family. Blaming Strike Commander Jack Morrison made Lena no-name feel a bit better in herself. She might not be able to protect people or save the world but she knew she was right and she knew she had an enemy.

Not even flying helped shift the feeling. That day was the first day she’d messed up. She didn’t fly up in time and had to perform an emergency landing in a field. When she’d landed she just sat back. She couldn’t take off in the small amount of space so she was stuck to wait for the squad to finish up and collect her.

Morrison didn’t seem to be the evil she thought he was. Overwatch had flaws but everything did. As she sat in a cornfield she could feel her world view warping into confusion.

 

As the years ticked by Lena paid close attention to Overwatch. She began to form a grudging respect for the organisation as she saw more and more of it. They protected Numbani when an attack came down, they broke apart a violent protest in Russia and looked further into fixing Omnics using something called Nanobots.

Lena also flew through the ranks. Within a few short years she was the head of a squadron herself which was known for daring moves, the best teamwork and acceptance of Omnics. Lena had argued countless times for Omnics to be included into her squadron but she’d been refused every time because the Omnics were still not allowed into the military.

One day she lost it. She marched to the CO’s office. The CO was no longer the CO of a small training base. This CO was a step above Brigadier. Lena didn’t really care about that as she slammed the door open.

“Omnics should have just as many rights as humans! They’re ready to die for our country and you’re stopping them? I don’t care about the bloody law! I want them on my squadron and I am prepared to train them from scratch! I could do with some Omnics on my squad because at least they wouldn’t fall asleep in the middle of a fucking briefing! You-”

“Oxton!” The CO shouted. She glared at him before he nodded to the seat in front of her. Strike Commander Morrison was sat there, trying to suppress a smile.

“Strike Commander.” Lena saluted. She paused. “Sir, why do you think Omnics aren’t allowed to-?”

“Oxton go back to your squadron.” The CO commanded. Morrison waved the man away.

“No, let her speak.”

“You’ve begun talking out about how Omnics are just as good as any human but Overwatch doesn’t have a single Omnic. The British military doesn’t have any Omnics. An Omnic could do so many jobs over and above what a human could do. They’re not even allowed to do the bloody filing!”

“Was there a question in there?” Morrison asked, that same smile threatening his face.

“Why don’t you speak against it?”

“Because every country has the right to their own sovereignty. I cannot dictate laws to them.”

“But you could set an example. You could talk to the UN and make a case for Omnics.”

“We have given Omnics a lot. Look at Australia.”

“You stole the local people’s land and gave it to Omnics because you thought that humans wouldn’t want it. It didn’t fix anything. It meant that the locals were displaced from their homes and the Omnics have been thrown into an obsolete part of the world. Britain knows about sending people to Australia and it ain’t right.”

“May I ask what your job here is, Oxton?”

“I’m a squadron commander. One of the best damn squads in England.”

“One of the best in the world.” The CO corrected.

“You didn’t tell me about her.” Morrison muttered. The CO shrugged.

“She has… problems with following orders.”

“I can see that.” Morrison looked at Lena for a long moment. Lena stared back and didn’t let her gaze waver. “What do you think we should do in London? We can’t enforce acceptance.”

“You can set an example. Bring Omnics into your force and speak out against people and countries that still hate on them.” Morrison stood and stood in front of her. She stared up at him.

“What’s your first name, Oxton?”

“Lena sir.”

“Lena Oxton, would you be interested in flying for Overwatch?”

“What?” Lena asked in astonishment. The CO also looked up in surprise.

“Strike Commander, there are other people who-”

“I can’t promise peace between Omnics and humans but I think if we have you then it might be closer.”

“So you want me to join so that Omnics can be accepted?”

“No. I want you because there is a jet we’ve created that needs the best to pilot. If someone your age is already leading one of the best squadrons in the world then I think you will qualify what we want.”

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

“Well,” Morrison held out his hand, “you are now a member of Overwatch.”

Lena had never thought that would feel so good.

 

Lena walked out of the base that day with the small bag of possessions she’d managed to gather. Most of her squadron gave her something, from food they’d been hiding for a better day to presents their own family had given them.

She met Morrison at the gates with the backpack in her hands.

“Is that all you have?” Morrison asked. Lena shrugged.

“It’s the military, not the best place to pick stuff up.”

“I-” Morrison broke off and nodded. “The flight will be here soon.”

“Where are we going?”

“Watch point Switzerland. It’s our main base.”

“How many bases do you have?”

“We have one in most countries. One on every continent.”

“What about Antarctica?”

“We have an Eco point being built there.”

“What’s that?”

“A point to study science.”

“So you’re prioritising studying ice over the life of Omnics.”

“It’s global warming and we’re not. Many of our scientists are focused on helping Omnics.”

“Not enough.”

“Why do you fight so hard for them?”

“They’re people and everyone seems to forget.”

“Hm.” Morrison stared off into the distance with a frown.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

The rest of the flight was spent in silence. When they landed Morrison led her into the building.

“The people stationed here will be in the mess. Follow me.”

Lena glanced around at the enormous building that seemed to dwarf her. She’d seen big buildings but she was accustomed to London, to the dirt and grime that told her she was home. This building was too big and far too pristine.

They finally came into the mess and Lena paused. There was an Omnic. Lena stared at it for a long few moments before walking towards it. Morrison muttered something that she didn’t hear.

“Hello loves.” She grinned around the table. There were ten people at the table. One of them was wearing a Stetson and was fiddling with an ancient looking pistol. The Omnic was sat next to him, not even hiding the shurikens he was fiddling. A woman with blonde hair and a wide smile was talking to another woman with much darker skin and braids in her hair. They seemed to be a very similar age. Another dark skinned woman who looked far too much like the other one to be a co-incidence was watching the two with a smirk. As she turned to Lena she spotted a tattoo beneath her eye.

Next to her was a mountain of a man. The cutlery he was holding looked tiny in his hands. He had been laughing raucously at the joke another man who looked to be a couple of feet tall. There was also a chubby woman who was talking animatedly to the man next to her.

The final person was wearing all black, complete with a black beanie and was stabbing at his food aggressively. They all fell silent as Lena spoke.

“And who might you be?” The man in the Stetson asked.

“I’m Lena Oxton.”

“This is your pilot?” The man in the beanie asked. He looked at Lena. “She looks like a kid.”

“I ain’t been a kid since I shot down a squad of Russian forces that was trying to enter our airspace.” Lena said it with a smile but her voice was cold. The man stared at her and smiled gently.

“My name is Gabriel Reyes.”

“You led Overwatch in the crisis.”

“Great, a fan.”

Lena didn’t bother correcting him.

“I am Ana Amari,” the woman with the tattoo said. She was staring at Lena as if there was a puzzle to work out. “This is my daughter Fareeha.”

“It is good to meet you.” Fareeha nodded to Lena who grinned back.

“Name’s Jesse McCree.” The cowboy introduced himself. He tipped the Stetson gently in her direction.

“I am Reinhart Wilhelm!” The titan of the man boomed. “I am glad to meet you comrade!”

“It’s good to meant you too love.”

“I am Angela Ziegler.”

“Ooh!” Lena sat down at the table between Reyes and Ana. Reyes didn’t say anything but she could almost feel the anger rolling off him. “You’re the one who talked about the possibility of fusing a human and Omnic to create cyborgs! That was awesome.”

“Yes. Awesome.” The Omnic scoffed as he stared at Lena.

“I didn’t catch your name love.”

“I didn’t give it. I am Genji.”

“Ooh are you a cyborg?” Lena could feel the table around her pause at that but Genji just nodded. “Then I guess your work wasn’t as theorectical as we thought. It was still an epic breakthrough for Omnic rights and all. And-”

“Omnics don’t get rights.”

Lena turned to the dwarf and glared at him.

“Just because-”

“Omnics ain’t human. They aren’t people.”

“You can be a person without being a human.”

“This is Torbjorn.” The man who hadn’t introduced himself said. “He fought on the front lines of the Omnic crises.”

“Didn’t most of you?”

“Only Ana, Torbjorn, Reinhardt and Jack.”

“And you.” Ana added.

“I only helped at the end. My name is Gerard Lacroix. It’s very nice to meet you Lena Oxton.”

“Nice to meet all of you too! So what do I have to do to get some grub as well?”

“There is more in the kitchen.”

Lena bounced up and raced to the kitchen. By the time she returned Genji had vanished. Reyes was looking at his empty seat but made no move to follow him.

So, she thought to herself, not even ten minutes in and she’d managed to piss off two members of what would be her team.

 

It was the very next day that the Slipstream designs ended up in her hands. She felt an apprehension that she couldn’t quite explain. She wasn’t sure if travelling through time would be quite the same as performing manoeuvres with her entire squadron. Slipstream seemed to be amazing if it worked, letting her fly a much smaller jet and flank even more effectively.

The apprehension didn’t vanish as she climbed into the cockpit. She flew it up and then launched into a summersault to calm herself. It forced her to concentrate, made sure that her brain was empty of everything else.

“Call sign Tracer are you ready?” Morrison’s voice came over the comms.

“Strike Commander I am ready to engage Slipstream.”

“Confirmed. When you are ready.”

“Sir, I’m always ready.”

Lena pressed the button on the Slipstream and then the only thing she was aware of was screaming. Morrison was shouting at her but she couldn’t say anything as she felt her body ripped across time. She belonged nowhere but was everywhere.

It was almost a relief when the plane vanished around her.

 

Lena wasn’t aware of anything for a long time after that. Nothing made sense as she was pulled across time. Her body kept on trying to solidify itself but it couldn’t. Each time she appeared somewhere the plane itself would lose part of itself.

She knew that one day the plane would go and it would be her left. She’d never see Moore again, she’d never see the world in harmony. She cried when she could and she began to mourn for a world she could no longer create.

The first time she appeared in her own time she was in London. She ran down the streets she knew as a ghost like figure. She reached the underground just as she was pulled away. She let out a scream but by the time an Omnic heard it Lena had been pulled away again.

It took a lot longer for her to find herself in Overwatch. She’d begun to come to her own time more. She knew it wasn’t a good thing. Her body was giving out and she didn’t have much time left until what remained of her body vanished and only her mind was left, split across all of time and space with no way of changing a damn thing.

That terrified her.

When she did finally appear in Overwatch she did it in the mess hall. No-one was there and she just sat at the table. She was exhausted and all she wanted to do was sleep but she couldn’t.

“Lena?”

Her name made her head snap up. Morrison was stood there as if he’d seen a ghost. He had, Lena reasoned.

“Commander you need to help-” Before Lena could say anything else she felt herself pulled away. She appeared in a rubble filled field and screamed in anger. She wanted to survive. She sat down on the floor and looked around. The white stones meant nothing to her. There was a statue in front of her which showed someone in a long coat but she ignored it.

As she felt her body lurch away she spotted the Overwatch logo, a part of the debris.

It took a long time but she eventually realised she could control it, just a little bit. She had to concentrate and remember everything perfectly. When she next appeared in Overwatch she wanted to cry.

“Lena!” Ana shouted. The heads in the room flicked to her.

“Help me. Please.” She felt tears in her eyes and she faded again as they dropped to the floor.

After that she managed to focus her next jump onto Overwatch. Angela was there the and pushed her into a room which would somehow counteract what Slipstream had done.

It did mostly. Her jumps  through space stopped and the time jumps almost stopped but she was still see through, could still not hold anything. Lena spent most of the time lying on the floor wishing something could change. After she’d been in the room for several weeks a new person appeared.

“Lena Oxton?”

“Here.” Lena held up a hand but didn’t bother to open her eyes. “You the new doctor?”

“Huh, I guess I am.” The man chuckled slightly and Lena smiled.

“A doc with a sense of humour. I like it. What’s your name?”

“Um. Winston.”

“You got a surname?”

“Not exactly.”

“That’s not nice.” Lena opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. “I don’t have one either to be honest. Just picked one up. Tried to make someone proud. I ain’t gonna make her proud dying in here.”

“You won’t die Lena. I’m going to make sure of that.”

“Okay Doc.” Lena said softly. She didn’t believe it. She sat up and paused as the doctor came into view. It was a gorilla. A giant blue gorilla. With glasses. Lena frowned for a moment before she shrugged. “I get why you don’t have a surname now.”

“Well uh,” Winston chuckled, “they don’t like giving science experiments names.”

“Aw that’s really not nice.” Lena stood and walked to the edge of the container. “What’d you wanna know Doc?”

The conversation went on for a long time, not helped by Tracer flickering out halfway through. She didn’t even know where she went that time. She just didn’t exist. When she came back she started to cry. She didn’t want to die.

Winston promised her once more that it wouldn’t happen. Lena believed him even less.

When Winston left Morrison took his place.

“Hello Lena.”

“Don’t you wanna call me Tracer or something? Maybe Oxton? I ain’t exactly been Lena.”

“This was never meant to happen Lena.”

“I know sir. But I also know you don’t come here for everyone.”

“I visit many of my men when they’re in the hospital.”

“Commander I need to call bullshit on that.” Lena’s voice was thick with emotion. “You come here when they’re not going to make it through.” Morrison didn’t respond and Lena laughed for a moment. “I always hated you. I hated all of this.”

“Why?”

“You poisoned my city. You- Omnics were hated because of who they were. That racism we’d spent the last few centuries fighting came back immediately. My friends got hurt every day.”

“Friends?”

“Omnics. Moore didn’t even believe they were a person. They thought that they were just a robot, didn’t believe they had emotions. I’ve seen Omnics with PTSD, with depression and Omnics who are so anxious they don’t dare leave the underground. You didn’t do a thing to stop it. I liked blaming you.” Lena sniffed and rubbed her eyes. Her hand phased through her face and she pushed it back down. “I ain’t got a surname. Not really. Oxton was an Omnic who died in the Omnic rights peaceful protest. I took her name so I could make the world a better place. I ain’t gonna be able to do that now. You didn’t do jackshit about it.”

“No we didn’t. I wanted it to work itself out.”

“Gangs hunted down Omnics and left them for dead. I learnt to protect myself so I could fight back. I saw Omnics die because of the propaganda Overwatch put out.”

“We were in a war.” Morrison sighed. “We do a lot in war that we’re not proud of.”

“The propaganda was there for a lot longer.”

“Yes. Yes it was.”

“I don’t wanna talk about this anymore.” Lena whispered. “I- I don’t think I’ve got much longer here.”

“You can feel when you’re about to jump?”

“No sir. I don’t think I have much longer on Earth.”

 

After that, Morrison visited every day. Lena was pretty sure it was every day. Whenever Winston appeared the gorilla looked more stressed and worried.

“Hey Winston it’s okay.”

“I’m close Lena! I know I am.” Winston glared down at the paper.

“You really think so?” Lena asked softly.

“Of course.”

“What happens if you don’t get it done?”

“That won’t happen.”

“Winston,” Lena’s voice was strong. “Tell me. If I die then-” Winston sighed and took off his glasses.

“In all truth I don’t know. You might dissipate and your consciousness just stops or-”

“Or what?”

“You could be split across time and space. Everywhere and no-where. Just like you were at the moment it broke. You’d be in that state forever.”

“I think I’d rather a bullet in my head than that.” Lena smiled shakily at that and Winston looked away. “But that wouldn’t work either.”

“It’s terrible but I’ve thought of it Lena. I- I know that if you fade more then I could be forcing you into so much suffering. There isn’t a gun that could do it.”

“So I’m stuck.” Lena nodded. “You’d better find something big guy.”

“I’m trying Lena. I just-” Winston sighed.

“I know you are. If this- if you don’t manage it-”

“Lena-”

“No.” Lena spoke over him. “No, I got people Winston. I got people I need to tell them stuff. Morrison ain’t gonna have time and no-one else visits me. Just- write down the names and if this goes south then talk to them.”

“Who are they?”

“Moore. Tell them that I tried to change the world. Tell them they’ve gotta carry on. There’s still hope and the cause won’t die until every single person with a shred of good in their heart are dead.”

“Who is Moore?”

“They’re an Omnic in London. Tell any of them I’m dead and they’ll know.”

“You know them all?”

“I know enough.”

“Is there anyone else?”

“Yeah. Hope you got a lotta paper big guy.”

 

Morrison visited her later that day.

“Winston told me you said your goodbyes.”

“Yeah.” Lena was lying on the floor again. “Seems I ain’t got much time left. Gotta try it at least.”

“Who did you send them to?”

“Few of my squad mates. Most to the Omnics back home.”

“Didn’t you want to talk to them?”

“Omnics ain’t gonna trust anyone if they say I’m with Overwatch. Overwatch didn’t care about them and they don’t care about Overwatch.”

“Overwatch does care.”

“Yeah right. Tell that to the Omnics who died when police opened fire on them.”

“I got a letter from someone many years ago.”

“Just one?”

“From a girl called Lena.”

“Lots of us out there.”

“This girl was talking about how Omnics deserved rights and she named five Omnics who had all died at the hands of police. She included clips of them living normally and then showed me their deaths. She told me to do something. She ordered me to do something about it.”

“Yeah that sounds like me.”

“How old were you when you first knew about this?”

“Since I was a little kid. Protected the first Omnic at twelve. Nearly bit a man’s arm off.”

“What happened to that Omnic?”

“That’s be Moore.”

“Can you tell me about them?”

“I can try. I really ain’t got much time left.”

“Why do you say that?”

Lena chuckled and passed a hand through her own chest.

“I ain’t solid to myself sir. I ain’t got long.”

 

The next time Lena felt herself begin to dissipate she started to cry. Morrison was there and he started shouting but she didn’t hear him. She knew she was going to die and he couldn’t stop that.

She’d said her goodbyes. She’d tried to change the world and she’d failed. Just one more zealot who couldn’t do anything in the end. She’d failed every one of the Omnics who had trusted her. She didn’t think about it any further.

She’d failed and now she’d die.

Lena Oxton closed her eyes and felt a tug in a million directions. She didn’t scream this time, there wasn’t enough of her left.

 

“Lena. Lena!” Someone was shouting but Lena didn’t bother trying to work out who it was. She was hearing so many shouts it hurt. Everything hurt so badly. Then she realised it didn’t. She wasn’t in agony anymore.

“Lena!”

“Big guy?” Lena whispered. She opened an eye and immediately wanted to shut it. Her energy was gone. She spotted Winston standing above her, staring down at her worriedly. She pushed her hand up but it fell back. He rushed forwards and took it. He turned it over as if to check for injuries.

Lena felt new tears bubble in her eyes.

“Is something wrong Lena?”

“I ain’t gonna die Winston.” Lena smiled. “Nothing’s wrong.” Winston grinned at that. “How?”

“A Chronal accelerator. It means that you won’t fall through time anymore. It’s still essentially a prototype but now that I know it works I can improve it quickly.”

“I wanna sleep.” Lena whispered. She’d forgotten how much effort it took to move a physical body. Winston smiled at her and nodded.

“That’s a good idea.”

“Thanks big guy.”

Lena closed her eyes, knowing she’d wake up.

 

When Lena did finally wake up Winston was there. He had somehow fallen asleep in the all too small chair. Lena rolled her head to the side and saw Angela on the other side of the room. Lena smiled at her and Angela was on her feet immediately.

“How do you feel Lena?”

“Tired.”

“You’ve just slept for the last sixteen hours.”

“I ain’t done that since I was a teenager.” Lena pushed herself up into a sitting position and was amazed at how much energy it took. “How long’s big guy been there?”

“Sixteen hours.”

“Well then-” Lena broke off as she looked down at herself. “What-” There was some kind of blue light coming out from the cloth.

“You need to not touch that.” Angelia warned.

“What is it?”

“The Chronal accelerator. I don’t understand it but it’s what’s holding your Chronal dissociation at bay.”

“So I take this off and I die?”

“What we think will happen is that as you grow stronger removing it will be less dangerous. It still won’t be perfect but you will probably be able to take it off for maybe even a few hours with the prototype Winston is working on.”

“How long’d I have now?”

“Most likely seconds.”

“So I ain’t getting this off for a while.”

“No.”

“How long till I’m in fighting shape again?” Lena stretched and winced at the constriction of the Chronal accelerator.

“You won’t be.”

“What?”

“You’re being officially discharge with honours.”

“I thought I went to jail if I got discharged.”

“Reyes wiped your record.”

“I don’t wanna be a civilian. Let me get better, get used to this thing and then I’ll be in fighting shape.”

“Do you really want to fight again? I thought you were for Omnic rights.”

“Peace hasn’t worked doc. I want it to but it didn’t. I can’t give it more time. If I’m a pilot in Overwatch then I can do so much more than as a punk kid on the streets. I wanna help but I was doing it wrong before.”

“Okay.” Angela sighed. “I don’t like war Lena. I hate it. I’m here to save people and I think you are too.”

“Yeah doc. Guess we’re kinda similar.”

“Lena?” Winston sat up as he saw Lena was awake.

“Heya big guy. Looks like you fell asleep.”

“Ah yes. It would appear so.”

“Everything seems to be fine here.” Angela smiled. “I’ll leave you two to it.”

“Are you feeling okay Lena?”

“Feeling better.” Lena pulled her legs up to her chest. “So what is it you put in this thing?”

“A lot of theoretical science that not even I fully understand. It should hold but I do need to work on a better one.”

“So I’m just a science experiment now?”

“Trust me, it’s not all that bad.”

Lena laughed at that.

“You’re funny Winston. I don’t mean to be rude but where’d you come from?”

“The moon.”

“So I got unstuck from time and got saved by a space Gorilla?”

“It would seem so.”

“So do I just keep this for the rest of my life?”

“I might be able to create something similar to go under your skin but I doubt it.” Winston sighed. “I’m sorry I can’t do more.”

“Aw.” Lena frowned at Winston’s dejected face. She slipped off the bed and tried to hug him. It didn’t really work out well with her tiny stature and his large one. “You saved my life big guy. I can cope with this thing. Might have to style it up but that ain’t a problem.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you sooner Lena. When you started talking about- about your friends.” Winston sighed. “I’m sorry I put you through that.”

“You didn’t. I knew the risks when I joined Overwatch. Hell, I knew the risks when I joined the RAF. I’ve known I could die any day since I was twelve.”

“Twelve?”

“Long story. Look, you saved me. Don’t bother thinking about what could’ve happened cause it didn’t.”

“Thank you Lena.”

 

As Lena recovered she spent a lot of time in Winston’s lab. She still didn’t know many of the other people at the base and she was scared to leave Winston, just in case the Chronal accelerator broke. Eventually people just started going to her.

“I got the stuff you wanted.” McCree said in his American drawl. Lena jumped up and hid them behind her.

“Shh!”

“They a present?”

“Yeah! Gotta get something for Winston.”

“You got a bunch of bananas as a thanks for saving your life?”

“I been getting him a bunch! No pun intended.”

“How you feeling in general?”

“I’ve been worse.”

“Don’t mean you’re good.”

“Dunno. It’s weird not trusting your body to not fall through time. Keep on expecting to be somewhere different. Or sometime different.”

“And you’re sticking with Overwatch anyway?”

“You think I’m dumb don’t you?”

“Didn’t say that.”

“I dunno. I can change things here. Better than if I was anywhere else.”

Before McCree could say anything else Winston came back into the room.

“Jesse. I didn’t know you were here. Have you finally decided to upgrade your weapon?”

“Peacekeeper’s going over my dead body.”

“Well.” Winston huffed.

“Oh Winston.” Lena called in a sing song voice. “Got your favourite!”

“For the last time, no more bananas!” Winston growled out. Tracer giggled again and held them out. Winston stared at them for a moment before taking them and setting them down on the side.

“Come on big guy!”

“You two’re getting along mighty fine.”

“You bond quite quick when someone saves your life. It’s you and Reyes ain’t it?”

“How’d you know about that?” Jesse asked. Lena shrugged.

“I don’t know much but I know he got you out of a gang. Meant to chuck you in prison and didn’t.”

“That’s bout the gist of it.”

Behind the two of them Winston took a banana and began to much on it.

“So it’s like that with me and Winston! He saved my life and now I get him bananas.” Lena turned to Winston who tried to hide the banana. “He says he doesn’t like em but he does.”

“I don’t say I don’t like them. I just-” Winston growled and went back to eating the banana. “Lena, the new Chronal accelerator is nearly ready.”

“What?” Lena asked. Winston nodded to the thing in front of him. It was full of wires and circuit boards that Lena didn’t understand.

“I can remove your current one and attach this one. It should fully stabilise you and make sure that you won’t ever phase through time.”

“What if I do when it comes off?”

“The readings say that’s impossible Lena.”

“Everyone thought all of this was impossible big guy.”

“This is the only way you can hope to get back to your life Lena. I know it’s difficult but you do have to trust me.”

“I do trust you.” Lena took a deep breath. “When?”

“Give me ten minutes.”

“Okay.” Jesse picked up on Lena’s nervousness instantly and started describing some ridiculous mission they’d been on. Lena had just started smiling when Winston cleared his throat.

“It’s ready.”

“So do I take the whole thing off or-” Lena trailed off.

“I don’t exactly have the hands for this so you will have to put it on. This is more secure.” Winston turned around and Lena whistled. It wasn’t just a small band of fabric to secure it in place anymore. The blue circle sat right over her chest and was much thinner than the last one. It was secured by leather straps around her back and over her shoulders.

“It’s nicer than the last one.” Lena picked it up and weighed it. “Pretty heavy.”

“Yeah.” Winston scratched his head. “I balanced it out so it shouldn’t cause you any back pain.”

“Okay.”

Lena took a deep breath as her hands went to her chest. If this didn’t work she could become unstuck again, could fall through time.

“If you slip we’ll get you back.” Winston reassured her. Lena nodded.

“Ain’t got nothing to wait for then.” She unclipped the accelerator and set it aside. Immediately she could feel the tug of time on her as it wanted to pull her in so many different directions. She grabbed the new one from Winston and forced it on. It was much more comfortable and as she tightened the straps she could feel herself become real again.

“Does it work?”

“You’re a bloody genius Winston!” Lena exclaimed and hugged Winston again. Winston gave out a huff of surprise but let Lena hug him. He slowly put out a hand and gripped her back.

“So it’s good?” Winston half asked.

“It’s great!” Lena bounced over to her bag and began to rifle through it. “I weren’t waiting for you to finish this, it’s just I know you go through these like nothing.” Lena held out a jar of peanut butter and Winston straightened.

“Peanut butter?”

“You’ve deserved it big guy.” Lena passed it to him and smiled as he bit the lid off. Jesse was watching the two in amusement.

“I gotta get back to Reyes. See you around Lena.”

“Yeah! I’ll hold you to that, cowboy.”

 

The new Chronal accelerator was amazing. Lena felt grounded again, like she hadn’t since before the accident. She recovered quickly and was ready to fly within a week. Even Morrison, who worried about everything, seemed to stop worrying.

Lena also managed to convince him to keep her on. She argued that she could help with transport as well as backup in extreme situations. Morrison finally grudgingly agreed.

Lena was on top of the world, she even managed to get in touch with Moore and the rest of the Omnics in London. The riots had calmed down and she was glad that the Omnic casualties were minimal. She called her squad mates and explained what had happened. They were up in arms about her staying but she just laughed their concerns off. She was safe.

Changing clothes was still a chore but she now had minutes rather than seconds before she’d fade.

All in all her life was going a lot better. Then she fell off a cliff.

Lena would want to defend herself. She didn’t technically fall off a cliff. She was pushed. Fareeha was dabbling with some weapons. Her mother was fighting against it but Fareeha was a grown adult. So Lena stole something Winston had been working on. It sent out a small pulse when it hit the ground and pushed the person away. Fareeha could use it to cover distances fast.

“So I just press this?” Fareeha asked.

“Yep. Oh and by the way love, I’m pretty sure this won’t be a problem but,” Lena pointed to the parachute she’d insisted Fareeha wore. “This is the cord you pull if you go too high.”

“Okay.” Fareeha took a deep breath before she pointed it at the ground. Lena took a step backwards just as Fareeha shot it at the floor. Lena felt herself being pushed back and she suddenly realised that maybe she should have got two parachutes.

The air had been knocked out of her lungs and the ground was gone from beneath her feet. She suddenly knew that she wouldn’t survive the fall. She screwed up her eyes and wished she was on top of the mountain again. It was as if the accelerator clicked off. She gasped as time rewound and she landed on the cliff.

Lena doubled over and retched onto the ground. The accelerator was broken. She was going to be unstuck. She was going to die. She wasn’t going to change anything. She’d never see Moore. The accelerator was broken. She’d be thrown across time. She’d die in agony. The accelerator was broken. She’d never say goodbye to Winston. The accelerator was broken. The accelerator was broken. The accelerator-

“Lena!”

Lena felt bile explode from her mouth. The accelerator was broken.

“Lena!”

“Tracer!” Lena paused at that name. No-one used it. She looked up to see Winston, Fareeha and Morrison watching her in horror.

“It’s broken Winston! It’s broken. It’s broken. It’s broken.” She curled in on herself. “I’m going to die. I’m going to die. It’s broken. It-”

“It’s not broken Lena.” Winston fell to all fours and pulled Lena into his arms. “You’re not going to die.”

Lena felt her breath begin to even out. She couldn’t stop the tears but as Winston held her close she could feel his fur. She wasn’t phasing through it. When she had finally gained some composure she pulled back.

“What happened?” Lena whispered. Winston frowned.

“I don’t know.”

“Fuck.”

 

When Lena had calmed down enough to walk back to Winston’s lab she was exhausted. Morrison followed them as Fareeha left, spewing apologies.

Lena sat down on Winston’s couch. She knew he’d got it for her but he denied it every time. She sniffed and wiped the tears away from her eyes. It didn’t help as they were replaced immediately. Morrison sat next to her and stared at Winston.

“Do you have any idea what happened?” Morrison asked, anger evident in his voice.

“This is beyond blind sailing Jack. Time travel in the Slipstream machine was cutting edge but reversing it should have been years away. We can’t wait that long.” Winston huffed as he stared at the designs and reports Lena had given him. Lena lay on the couch with tears dribbling down her face. She couldn’t be bothered to wipe them away.

Her Chronal accelerator was broken and she was going to die. They didn’t know how to fix it.

“So you’re saying we have nothing?”

“I’m saying that- I don’t know what I’m doing here Jack! Making the Chronal accelerator was a miracle!”

“It wasn’t big guy.” Lena piped up from the couch. She stared at Winston. “You did it. It wasn’t a miracle.”

“I don’t think I can do something like that again Lena.” Winston sighed and took off his glasses. “The theory of time travel is so complicated. There’s almost no way-”

“So I’m going to die.”

“You can’t think like that.” Morrison reprimanded him. Lena just sighed.

“I got to buying alcohol at least. Quite while you’re ahead right?” Lena’s voice was quiet and soft.

“There’s no evidence that it’s faulty Lena.”

“Then what are you saying?” Morrison asked as Lena curled in on herself again. Winston sighed.

“There was- Lena was- think of it like this. When Lena was Chronally dissociated she was falling through time. Through levels of time. Sometimes they were one second after another so she could appear to us but at other times she was free falling. The Chronal accelerator essentially chooses a layer and sticks to it, allowing her to slide along it rather than fall through.”

“So?”

“I think it let her change which layer.”

“What?” Morrison asked.

“I think Lena chose a layer and the Chronal accelerator allowed her to change layer.”

“How would that work?”

“It would mean she theoretically could time travel on her own. I imagine that at some point she would begin to disassociate again but small jumps would be completely possible.”

“So I’m going to be okay?” Lena whispered. Winston smiled and nodded.

“I think you’re going to be just fine.”

 

Lena was stubborn, always had been. Winston had adored that about her until she fell off the cliff. As soon as she’d calmed down and Winston had explained it to her in much more depth than he had to Morrison she made up her mind.

She wanted to understand it.

Winston fought against it. He didn’t understand it, wasn’t sure if it was safe. He fought against her until she said that she’d want to know if she was going to die. She couldn’t spend her life terrified of the machine in her chest.

After that Winston relented. It took a lot of time and a lot of Lena breaking down into tears until she was pretty sure she had it under control. She found that she could rewind her own time and could slow it down as well. Winston didn’t have the answers as to why, just theories.

Lena never thought of using the powers, they weren’t powers. They were things that she had to control, side-effects of not dying. As side-effects go they were pretty extreme but not too damaging. The worst was when Lena had a cold and every time she sneezed she blinked. When they had worked out it wasn’t serious Winston found it hilarious.

The first mission Tracer was officially called to was a group of terrorists. They had been bombing buildings and somehow Reyes and McCree had got hints that they were targeting an embassy. Lena transported them and was then was ready to come in with twin pistols. Morrison had snorted at them the first time he’d seen them and she’d ignored them. They didn’t pack much of a punch but they could do a lot of damage.

The mission started with Morrison, McCree and Reyes going into the main building. Ana, Angela and Lena hung back. Ana was watching the events unfold through her sniper rifle and was arguing with Lena over which kind of tea was the best.

“If you’ve never left your continent then you cannot-” Ana paused and cursed. Lena was pretty sure it was a curse. It wasn’t in English but Ana had a way of making people understand her emotions. It was only occasionally with her rifle.

“What is it?” Angela asked. Ana pulled her ammunition closer.

“You’re going to need to prepare for casualties Angela.”

“Civilian or military?”

“Both. They’ve got McCree. There’s no clean shot on his captor but-” Ana sighed.

“Wait but if they know Overwatch is here then they wouldn’t bother waiting would they?”

“No they wouldn’t.” Ana reached to her ear piece. “Morrison come in.” She waited. “Reyes come in. Anyone!”

“Why ain’t their comms on?” Lena stood as adrenaline shot through her body. She grabbed her pistols and began to twirl them in her hands.

“Someone has probably blocked them. They might not even know that McCree has been captured.”

“I’m going in.” Lena stated. The other two nodded at her. She adjusted her bullet proof vest for a moment before running out of the building into the embassy. She didn’t bother introducing herself to the security. “Everyone out!” Lena shouted. “You’re in danger!”

“Miss you can’t-”

“I’m with Overwatch. There is a credible threat to the lives of everyone here. How long is evacuation going to take?”

“Ten, fifteen minutes?”

“Make it faster.” With that Lena ran up the stairs. They’d left the building full to try and catch the people but evacuation was now number one priority. When she got to the top of the stairs she ran into the room McCree had been in.

She pulled her guns out and almost immediately someone opened fire on her. She had just about enough time to verify that it wasn’t an Overwatch agent before she returned fire. She jumped behind cover and paused, refilling the clip.

“Come out.” The man growled.

“I’d rather not love.” Lena bit her lip as she tried to work out what to do. The man would expect her to peek out the corners. But then-

Lena grinned as she remembered, she had backup.

“Get ready to hit him. If you hit me then I can recall.” Lena whispered into her comms. Ana muttered an affirmative and Lena popped up which caused the man to take a step forward, putting him right in front of the window. He didn’t even have time to shoot at her before he fell to the floor. “Cheers love!” Lena said down the comms. She heard a gentle chuckle from Ana.

Lena then surveyed the room. McCree wasn’t the only one. Reyes and Morrison were tied to chairs next to each other. Morrison was the only one conscious and he was gagged. Lena raced to him and pulled out the gag before she started to work on the ropes.

“You need to get out of here Lena.”

“I know. We all do.”

“No. The bomb-” Morrison coughed and Lena paused at the rough sound. “You need to get out of here. The bomb doesn’t have five minutes. It probably doesn’t even have one.”

“Where is it?”

“What?”

“The trigger bomb, where is it?”

“Two rooms over. Why?”

Lena bit her lip. “I need you to trust me sir.”

“Lena…”

“No. I ain’t Lena here. I’m Tracer. I ain’t the little kid, I’m an Overwatch agent. I gotta save these people. I’m gonna untie you and you need to get the others out. I’m gonna defuse the bomb.”

“You know how to?”

“Yeah.” Lena lied.

“Go.”

Lena grinned and cut off the last of the rope. She then ran into the other room. The trigger bomb was there. She was sure there’d be other, smaller bombs throughout the building but none of them would go off if this one didn’t.

“So.” Lena sighed. She walked towards the bomb and watched as it ticked down. She had twenty seconds. “Guess it’s lucky I got here when I did.” She walked to the window and kicked the glass out.

“Lena what are you doing?” Ana asked down the comms.

“Sorry Ma’am.” Tracer took a deep breath. “I’m not Lena here. I’m Tracer.” With that she leapt out of the building.

She could hear screaming from floors down but all she could think of was the ticking in her hands. She blinked forwards, forcing the bomb out of the building and any potential other bombs She could vaguely hear Angela and Ana shouting at her but she ignored it. Five seconds. Four seconds. Three seconds. Two seconds.

“I hope this bloody works.” Lena whispered as the bomb exploded into her chest. She cried out in agony as shards ripped into her- well, her everywhere. It felt like she’d been impaled. She took in a breath and felt blood well up in her mouth. She felt herself falling to the ground and closed her eyes.

She suddenly felt time rewinding and pulling herself back into the building. She fell to the floor and took in deep breaths. She patted herself down, terrified that the injuries were still there. She then ripped off the protective vest. The Chronal accelerator was intact.

“Thank fuck for that.” She breathed out. There was still shouting in her ears. She stood shakily.

“This is Tracer.” There was a pause after her words before both Angela and Ana started screaming at her. Lena groaned and walked back into the room with Morrison, Reyes and McCree. Morrison was glaring at her.

“What the fuck was that?” Morrison shouted. Lena grinned at him.

“I did it didn’t I? By the way, might not wanna put your comms in, it’s a bit loud.”

“I SHOULD HOPE IT’S LOUD!” Morrison yelled. Lena stared at him. “You just lied to your commanding officer and it nearly killed you!”

“All due respect Sir,” Lena spat the word out, “I didn’t have much choice.”

“Don’t say another word Lena. I knew you weren’t ready to go on missions!”

“You would have died! I knew what I was doing!”

“You jumped out of a building holding a bomb!”

“And I saved everyone in this damn building!”

“Stand down Oxton.” Morrison snarled. Lena glanced at him for a few moments before nodding. “Get McCree out of here. We’ll talk about this when we’re not in a building full of bombs.”

Lena nodded before going to McCree. He stirred after a few seconds.

“Hello darling. Did something happen?”

“Yeah.” Lena snorted. “I think Morrison just fired me.” Jesse stared at her for several long moments before he closed his eyes again.

“You got one hell of an attitude.”

“Says the guy in a cowboy outfit?”

“Oxton,” Morrison snapped out, “are you ready to leave?”

“Yes sir.” Lena supported Jesse to his feet where he instantly started to wobble. She sighed before hauling him over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Reyes looked at her in surprise for a moment. They always seemed to forget that she had been in the military.

They made their way down the many flights of stairs until they made it to the last floor. Lena then set Jesse down and let him loop an arm around her shoulder. The four of them hobbled to the doorway where there was a huge crowd gathered. Jesse groaned as he caught sight of the cameras. Lena tilted his hat down slightly.

“Strike Commander! Strike Commander!” The reporters shouted out. Morrison paused and Reyes chuckled.

“Go talk to your fans Jack.” Reyes took hold of Jesse and walked towards Angela and Ana who were still muttering obscenities in various languages into the comms. Lena frowned. She had no idea how many languages they were speaking but she was pretty sure that either one of them was more than bilingual or Egyptian had a lot of swear words.

“I don’t have much time for questions.” Morrison stared as he stared out at the crowd. “There was a bomb threat and we have neutralised it. We managed to neutralise one of the perpetrators but we know there are more out there.”

“Strike Commander!” One of the reporters shouted out. Morrison pointed to him. “Who is the name of your new agent?” Lena glanced up at that. Most of the crowd was looking at her, not Morrison.

“Introduce yourself.” Morrison muttered.

“My name is Lena Oxton. Call sign Tracer.” Lena stared out over the crowd.

“How did you stop the bomb?”

“I-uh-” Lena glanced to Morrison who nodded. In her comms Ana started talking.

“Tell them everything Lena. They’ll find it out eventually anyway.”

“Overwatch was looking for a hotshot pilot to test their next generation teleporting fighter, the slipstream. Enter Lena Oxton, call sign Tracer! That’s me” Lena could hear Morrison sighing next to her. “It was the sort of opportunity I’d dreamed of my whole life.” It had been, to be at the pinnacle of invention and innovation. “But on my first flight the teleportation matrix malfunctioned and I disappeared. I was missing for months and no-one knew where or when I had gone. By the time Overwatch found me I was little more than a ghost. The doctors call my condition Chronal dissociation. I faded in and out of existence, disappearing for hours and days at a time! And even when I was there I couldn’t touch anything!” Lena decided to leave out the terror of feeling her hand phase through her own body.

“But my friend Winston would not give up! He kept at it, day and night until he invented the Chronal harness that keeps me anchored to the present. I was myself again! Even better, it turned my condition into something great! I had control over my own time and I could speed it up and slow it down at will. My life as a pilot is over but,” Lena glanced at Morrison. Hopefully he wouldn’t kill her for this, “my life as an Overwatch agent had begun!”

“Get off now.” Ana warned through the comms. Lena put a hand to her ear.

“Sorry, sounds like someone needs me but don’t worry we’ll have plenty of time for stories later! Cheers!” Lena giggled and then began to wade through the crowd. She knew that the reporters were watching her go in amazement and she glowed in pride.

She’d never have thought it but maybe this was where she’d start. Maybe this was where she could finally make a difference.

 

When she woke up the next day her face was across every network. She saw her body die a thousand times over and then saw her strutting out of the door. She was actually surprised they let the bomb explosion bit be on TV.

She could see shrapnel fly through her and blood dripping from her mouth as she decided to recall.

There was a knock on her door and she turned.

“Come in.”

Winston walked into the room and Lena frowned.

“Hey big guy. Sorry I didn’t get to see you yesterday it was a bit-”

“You could have died.” Winston’s voice was soft. Lena shrugged.

“I had the accelerator.”

“Which wouldn’t have done anything if shrapnel hit it.”

“Winston, I ain’t gonna apologised for what I did.”

“I spent months of my life trying to save you!” Winston roared. He stood on two legs and Lena suddenly remembered that no matter how kind he was he was still a Gorilla, he could still rip her apart if he wanted to.

“My life ain’t yours cause you saved it. My life is my own.”

“You nearly lost it!”

“That’s such a dumb expression. I’d lose my life if I died in a car crash. I didn’t nearly lose it, I nearly scarified it. I decided that the other lives in that building were, combined, worth more than my own. I’m sorry big guy but I’d do the same thing again.”

“Lena please think about this.”

“I have Winston. Look, I didn’t wanna die in that room cause no-one would. I wanna save people. I wanna leave a mark on this world better than the stains I cause. If Overwatch is the way to do it then Overwatch is what I do.”

“You need to consider your life.”

“I do. Winston, I was patrolling the streets when I was twelve. I knew if I got badly hurt then an Omnic wouldn’t. There were plenty of times I could have died but the people took pity on me or I get a lucky swing in. I don’t want to die but if I do die I wanna to die protecting people.”

“Well,” Winston sighed, “I was worried that was what you were going to say.”

“I might not be smart but I know how to argue.”

“You’ve exploded overnight.”

“Nah I exploded in the air.” The joke fell flat. “It’s weird. How long do you reckon it’ll be before they figure out who I really am?”

“How do you mean?”

“I’m a reformed criminal, I’m for Omnic rights, I told Mondatta Tekartha that his ideas were bullshit-”

“What?” Winston spluttered out. Lena grinned.

“He sent me a message and I told him that peace ain’t an option anymore.”

“You wanted the Omnics to go to war?”

“You didn’t see what they were against. Killing an Omnic meant being congratulated. If an Omnic tried to fight back it would be turned to scrap. They’re underpaid and forced to live underground, literally. We tried peaceful and when it didn’t work I realised we need violence.”

“Do you still believe that?”

“Yeah mostly. The only thing I don’t think anymore is that Overwatch was at fault. I guess it was all a bit more difficult than I realised.”

“War always is.”

“Do you reckon Jack’s gonna fire me?”

“Jack looks at you like the daughter he never had Lena.”

“He looks at all the agents like that, like we’re his family.”

“We are. The founding members don’t have much family left. Only Fareeha.”

“It’s weird with so many people watching me. I don’t reckon anyone gets it, you know?”

“Get what?”

“Why I started it. I wanna just scream at them all. I’m not in this cause I’m a good pilot. I’m here cause I wanna make my home better.”

“You will.” Winston sighed. “Jack’s always been the golden boy but you’re new. You’re something incredible. Your first mission involved sacrificing yourself for a group of people you didn’t know. People want to believe in super heroes and I think they just found you.”

“No way big guy. I ain’t a superhero.”

“That’s not what they’ll see.”

 

Winston was, once again, right. Lena had to give him a tenner for that. He’d stared at it for several long moments before pinning it to his computer. She smiled at that. It sat next to the picture of the original Winston.

In the end Morrison didn’t fire Lena, just suspended her from active missions. She didn’t mind that, she had to train. She poured everything she had into learning to use her powers in a completely new way. No longer was it to avoid, it was to engage.

She darted around the training dummies, peppering them with shots until they fell one by one.

When she was finally cleared for active duty Morrison demanded to be on her team for the first ten missions until he knew she was competent. Every single time she proved it and there wasn’t a single casualty.

She became the poster girl for Overwatch. She spoke the message of Overwatch, wore the symbols and wondered if somewhere there was a small girl ripping her posters down. She wondered what Oxton would think. She thought about that a lot.

She learned to love Overwatch, love who she was to the world and love what she did. She protected the people, humans and Omnics. Every time she could she spoke up for Omnic rights. At some point someone noticed that she was the girl in the videos and she admitted it, admitted it all.

She told the world about her criminal record, about her belief, about the Omnics she knew and cared for and loved, and the fact that she would never stop fighting. The next day she woke up expecting international news stations condemning her. She thought her foster families might come forward and talk about how she was a trouble kid, how she wasn’t the perfect person she had tricked the world into believing she was.

Instead of hatred she saw acceptance. Still not everywhere, that would take much longer. The most important thing was that she was a face to look up to, she was someone for humans and Omnics to rally behind. She knew the power of a voice, she’d spoken for Omnics when she was just a human and when she became a superhero she didn’t stop speaking.

It was exhausting.

After a while the enemies started to target her Chronal accelerator. Whenever she saw a bullet about to connect with her life force she felt her breath leave her. It physically hurt when people touched the Chronal accelerator, she was terrified they’d take it.

Only Winston was allowed to hold it and Lena had already grilled him about everything until she knew her Chronal accelerator inside and out and could fix it if needed.

She knew when things started to fall apart. She tried to hold her family together but she could feel them slipping away. Reyes and Morrison wouldn’t stop arguing and it spread like a poison through the entire organisation. Black watch retreated from Overwatch so Lena didn’t even know Jesse had left for a month.

Jesse McCree had vanished into thin air and Lena mourned for her lost friend.

Amelie Lacroix was kidnapped and Lena was angry for her lost acquaintance.

Gerard Lacroix was assassinated and Lena was outraged.

Ana Amari, the woman Lena had come so close to calling mother so many times, was killed. Lena didn’t know how to feel.

When Gabriel Reyes, the first person at Overwatch to trust her, was called in as dead Lena grabbed the first jet and forced it into overdrive trying to get to Switzerland. She considered warping time but knew that she had to have energy to find him.

When Jack Morrison, the man who she had called Dad so many times as a joke, the man she had hated and admired, the man who was her father in all ways but blood, was pronounced dead Lena didn’t feel anything.

She searched through the rubble for days trying to find them, they all did. Reinhart held his shield out for falling debris, Torbjorn made a robot to find them, Angela worked overtime to find cures to revive the dead.

Lena gave up after two weeks of searching as she found a dead body with two shotguns next to it. She doubled over and sobbed. Winston tried to comfort her but she brushed him off. She strode off and sat down against a rock. She glanced up and froze.

The white rock was scattered around her, the logo of Overwatch destroyed. She’d seen it before, all those years ago. The statue of Morrison was staring at her.

“I could have stopped this.” Lena whispered to herself. “I-” She stood and turned to the remains of the Strike Commander’s statue. “I won’t let you down sir. I won’t let the work we’ve done stop. I won’t stop. Call sign Tracer, ready for combat.”

 

Tracer’s first stop was London. She walked down the streets she used to run down in terror. She looked down the alleys and sighed as she remembered Omnic after Omnic smashed and left for dead. On that night there weren’t any. She paused outside the Underground and took in a deep breath. This was home.

It didn’t feel like home without Winston, Ana or Jack. Tracer pushed that thought away.

As soon as she walked into the underground silence fell. She smiled at the Omnics who stepped out of their dwellings.

“Lena?” Cowan stepped forwards and Tracer grinned. “You’re back?”

“Yeah! I mean, going by Tracer now but yeah.” Lena let her backpack drop to the floor as she stared around at the Omnics. “How’re things been going back home?”

“You joined Overwatch.” Cowan’s voice was uncertain. Tracer frowned at that. Omnics were very rarely uncertain.

“Yeah.”

“You were their poster girl.”

“Yeah.”

“Everything you said to us. All of the-” Cowan broke off. “You were the one who told us how bad Overwatch was!”

“I know Cowan but I was an idiot. I didn’t think about it. Overwatch ain’t an operation that some punk kid could’ve worked out. I-”

“You betrayed us.”

“Never.” Tracer stood up straight and stared at Cowan. “I never stopped fighting for your rights. I was given a voice and I fought for you with it. Remember the last time I said that? When Oxton died.”

“You stole her name.”

“I took her name to remind me that she’s why I’m here. She’s- all of you. You’re the reason I didn’t just age out of the system and then get thrown to the side. You’re my family.”

“You think it’s that easy?” Cowan asked in amazement. “You can just come back now?”

“I kept in touch!” Tracer glanced around the Omnics. “I talked to Moore.”

“Moore isn’t here anymore.”

“What? Where is she?” Tracer wasn’t sure she could cope with another death on her hands.

“They fell in love with a human.” The word was sneered out and Tracer frowned.

“Ain’t that good?”

“No. Moore betrayed us all by choosing flesh.”

“No! That’s not-”

“That’s what you taught us Lena. You taught us anger. You taught us how to fight and we’re going to.”

“Cowan what does that mean?”

“Overwatch did nothing for us for years. They descended and everything got worse. There was corruption on every level and-”

“That ain’t true!”

“Overwatch did nothing for us Lena!” The Omnic cried out. “They watched as we were killed! You spoke against it but you never did anything!”

“There was nothing I could do!”

“When you were twelve you bit a man to stop him from hurting Moore. When you were fifteen you walked through the streets with a bat to protect every Omnic. What did you do in Overwatch?”

“I made sure the world was looked after.”

“It didn’t work.” Cowan hissed out. Tracer stared at him in confusion.

“Cowan, what’re you talking about?”

“We’re protesting today.”

“Well that’s- good?”

“When the police intervene they’ll pay. We’ve paid with enough metal now they’ll pay with blood.”

“That ain’t right.”

“You’re still a child Lena. You’re so much older but you’re a child. There is no right for an Omnic. We don’t have rights.”

“Hurting people ain’t gonna help you.”

“We’re only doing what you taught us to do.”

“No I-”

“March with us or leave Lena. You’re either with us or you’re with humans. Choose.”

“Cowan that ain’t the point! The Shambali-”

“You never listened to the Shambali. You told us that we had to rise up and fight.”

“I was a kid Cowan!”

“Choose Lena. Choose who to stand with.”

“Cowan don’t do this.”

“Choose.”

Tracer stared at him in horror before she turned her head to the side. She didn’t want to lose her family but what Cowan was saying was terrifying. The police here didn’t deserve to be hurt just because she’d been an idiot and incited rage.

“Humans Cowan. What you’re doing ain’t right.”

“The humans won’t accept you Lena. They never have.” Cowan’s voice was cruel and Tracer shifted in unease. This wasn’t the Cowan she remembered. “They abandoned you, they beat you, and they hurt you for no reason. You’ve never had a family with them. You’ve never had a family.”

“At least I know what I stand for Cowan. I stand for peace, not genocide.”

“I stand for peace as well Lena. If genocide is the way then that is what it must be.”

 

“Hey Jack.” Tracer whispered as she sat down on the sodden earth. Her side was aching from where she hadn’t recalled in time. “I fucked up this time.” She stared down at the gravestone. “I radicalised a species. Everywhere I go I keep on hearing it. They talk about me as if I’m some kind of legend. The humans still see me as Tracer but the Omnics see me as the dumb punk kid who decided to fight back.”

The gravestone remained silent, as lumps of rock are wont to do.

“I wanna make you proud but I don’t know how to do it.” Tracer hunched in on herself. “Those were my family. Whenever the foster family hit me or starved me the Omnics would be there. When I got hurt protecting them they’d bring me supplies for the next time. They didn’t want me to go into the Underground cause they were scared. I just-” Tracer broke off into sobs.

“I just had to watch them be slaughtered Jack. I- Cowan- I saw a bullet go through his head. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen! I wanted to protect them. I wanted to be able to walk down the street with an Omnic. I wanted Oxton to stay outside, sunrise to sunset whenever she wanted to. I wanted Moore to be happy with whoever they wanted. I fucked it all up. I get it now. You’re Strike Commander but it ain’t easy. You were Strike Commander.”

Tracer sniffed and rubbed at her eyes. She sat there for a long time, just talking to the grave. She knew he wasn’t there, his body had never been recovered. It had probably been lost in the explosion. Whenever she remembered it she thought of the bomb she’d taken, when she’d felt her lungs ripped apart by the shrapnel. Tracer hoped it had been a quick death. The second she’d had before she had rewound was agony.

When night fully fell she stood and stretched.

“Sorry da- Jack. I gotta go. There’s a gang over in Dorado who’s messing with Omnic minds. I ain’t having none of that.” Tracer took one last look at Jack’s grave before she blinked away.

 

She kept up the schedule for years. PETRAS act be damned, she was fighting for what she knew was right and no-one was going to stop her. She considered stopping, she considered it so many times. Then she’d see another injustice and there were so many.

She saw the anger in the Omnics rise stronger every day and the countries that didn’t accept them began to come under threat. Suddenly her job wasn’t to protect Omnics, it was to protect people, human and Omnic.

One day it went a bit too far. She’d been breaking up a fight between an Omnic and a gang when they opened fire. She quickly disabled them but she could feel the bullet in her side. It was too late to recall.

“Lena are you-”

“You uh,” Tracer frowned. “You wanna get underground.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Tracer groaned but forced herself out of the alley. She stumbled forwards and told herself to take deep breaths. Angela had given her vials with nanobots she could use. The only problem was that she’d left it in her hotel room.

Tracer continued to limp through alleys before her legs suddenly gave out from under her. She let out a curse and lay back against the brick work. If this was what killed her, a bullet to the gut, there’d be an irony in it. She’d been born defending Omnics and maybe she should die as it.

She groaned. She couldn’t just bleed out in a damn alley without telling Winston where she was. Tracer went to stand and there was suddenly another person there.

“Oh my God! Are you okay?”

“Peachy love.” Tracer smiled at the woman. She was wearing a thick jumper and her long ginger hair was beginning to fall into her face.

“You’ve been shot!”

“Noticed.”

“We need to get you to a hospital!”

“No.” Tracer groaned. “Help me up.”

“You-” The woman gaped before she did indeed help Tracer to her feet. Tracer limped forwards.

“Gotta get to my hotel. Safe there.”

“Is someone chasing you?”

“Love,” Tracer chuckled softly, ignoring how much it hurt, “the whole damn UN is meant to be after me.” The woman paused as they entered the relative light of the street. She stared at Tracer in amazement.

“Tracer!”

“Yep.” Tracer took a step forwards and half fell. The woman was there, pulling her up. “Ain’t gonna introduce yourself love?”

“Emily. I- I didn’t know you were still in London. I thought it was just rumours.”

“Little bit of both.” Tracer and Emily hobbled to Tracer’s hotel where she collapsed onto her bed.

“Wh-what do you do now?”

“Magic. Angela-” Tracer hissed in pain, “promises me it ain’t but I know better.” She grabbed one of the vials from the side and slowly administered it. She watched as the skin began to heal until the bullet plopped to the floor. Emily was staring at her in amazement.

“Angela Zeigler? Mercy?”

“Yeah. You a fan of Overwatch?” Tracer leant back on the bed. The Nano bots fixed the dangerous injuries but they also had a habit of wiping out anyone who wasn’t fully healthy.

“I mean, wasn’t everyone?”

“Yeah sure. That’s why we were shut down.” Tracer felt the bed dip where Emily sat down.

“Is that really a Chronal accelerator? I mean all that stuff you said-”

“Yeah it’s true. Fell through time and got this to save me.” Tracer sat up and smiled at Emily. “What’s someone like you doing in those alleys?”

“Who’s someone like me?”

“Someone who decided to help me.”

“Maybe I just brought you here to kill you.”

“Love, I don’t think you could hurt me.”

“I could!” Tracer chuckled at that. “You don’t know about me!”

“Tell me then.” Tracer smiled at Emily began to talk. She described a normal upbringing in the centre of London, the gritty side rather than anything else. She talked about a normal life, about two parents that loved her, a school that wanted her to succeed and eventually a University which wanted to teach her.

“It’s not very exciting.”

“Sounds nice though.”

“What happened to your parents? I mean we- it was never in any of the holovids.”

“Died when I was young. Put into foster care.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Nah love, it’s been a long time.”

“It must be difficult, losing your family.”

“I’m used to it.” Tracer stood and rolled her neck experimentally. “I need to go love.”

“What?”

“Reports of some kind of freedom fighting DJ. Wanna check it out, make sure everything’s fine.”

“A what?”

“It’s a whole new world out there.”

“And you see all of it.” Emily was smiling up at Tracer as if she was some kind of superhero. She wanted to scream that she wasn’t, she was that kid who saw injustice and decided to make her own laws.

“Not the pretty side.”

“Next time you’re in London can you,” Emily pulled a business card out of her jacket and scribbled a number on the back. “Call me. Please.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want you to bleed out in some back alley?” Emily shrugged.

“I’m not exactly safe to be around.”

“I know. It also just doesn’t feel right you just running around alone.”

“I ain’t alone, I’ve got the whole world.”

“Just call me please.”

“Sure thing love.” Tracer hesitated before she plopped a kiss on Emily’s cheek. The woman went bright red and Tracer chuckled. “Next time love!” She saluted and blinked out of the room.

 

The next time she was in London she did visit Emily, and the next, and the next. After a few months she realised she was making up reasons to visit London just so she could see Emily. Tracer tried to berate herself but all she could think of was Emily’s laugh.

It scared her to put roots down, it terrified her. Everyone she cared about had been ripped from her. Winston was the only person left and he was essentially confined to Gibraltar. She visited when she could but they both knew it wasn’t enough.

Tracer couldn’t stand to be in that compound, knowing that she’d failed the people who’d lived there. Winston couldn’t walk into society without people freaking out.

Her Omnic family had pushed her away, Moore was the only one who would always listened to her. Her voice held some sway within the community but Cowan refused to listen at all.

The squad mates she had grown to love would have to report her if she appeared. She was still breaking the laws or at least treading the line thinly. While she was allowed guns in every country as a by-product of the military and Overwatch she wasn’t allowed to be a peace keeper.

Overwatch had fractured and broken because she couldn’t remember one of her trips as she fell through time. If she’d just remembered it she could have stopped it.

When she told Emily that Emily just hugged her closer and whispered that it wasn’t, it had never been her fault. When Tracer had started Emily had held her tighter.

“I told you I didn’t have family,” Tracer whispered, “that wasn’t true. I have you.”

“And I have you.” Emily kissed Tracer gently and Tracer smiled.

The anger in the Omnics community was growing, Vishkar was growing, Talon was growing, the battles she was trying to fight were being lost but as she kissed Emily it didn’t matter. The world would spin for just a bit longer and as she was in Emily’s arms she didn’t need to think about it.

She always had to leave, of course she did, but knowing that there was someone waiting for her forced her to slow down. She stopped jumping out of buildings in the hopes she could recall. She stopped giving people free swings at her. When she was bruised and beaten in an ally she had two reasons to push herself up; Emily and Winston.

At some point she’d add her name to that but she didn’t know when.

The next time she visited Jack’s grave Emily came with her.

Tracer sat on the sodden ground and sighed.

“Hey Jack. This is Emily. Told you about her before. I’m doing it Jack, a bit of it. There’s so much to fight but I- I’m trying. Make hatred our enemy right? The Shambali’s message is spreading at least. Two of their monks have left, trying to help people. Dunno if it’ll work. I used to know stuff Jack. I knew that Overwatch was shit and that Omnics should be put above everything else. But it’s just- it’s just so hard. I’ve lost people and if I let the Omnics continue rioting then they’re going to kill people. Humans and Omnics can live in peace, Numbani shows that, but London doesn’t get it. If I try to stop the riots then I’ll have to use force against my family.”

Emily stared down at Tracer in surprise. She did talk about it sometimes but she always tried to protect Emily from the worst of it.

“Still dunno what happened to you either. I’m so scared Jack. There are other vigilantes now. They’re copying me I think. A soldier beat up a load of guys in Dorado and we ain’t seen hide or hair of him since. There’s a Shrike in Egypt and I dunno what to do. They don’t seem to wanna hurt people but I dunno. I didn’t think Omnics wanted to hurt people either. I used to know all this stuff. I don’t know anything anymore. I don’t- I don’t even know who I am. Tracer was Overwatch, Oxton was Omnic, Lena was just some dumb kid with no-where to go. I ain’t no-one now.”

“You’re whoever you want to be.” Emily said softly. Tracer looked up at her. “I know this is meant to be time for talking to Jack but- listen to me Lena.” Emily crouched down next to Tracer. “A name doesn’t matter. The organisation doesn’t matter. You’re trying to make the world a better place. That’s all that matters in the end.”

“I’m not doing much.”

“That’s a lie. I know the Omnic stuff is terrifying but you’re handling it. It’s a terrible situation, especially for you. But you’re doing it. You’re helping people around the globe even though you have no back up and it puts you in danger. Lena, you’re amazing.”

“Thanks love.” Tracer whispered. Emily smiled and hugged her. Tracer curled into her and smiled down at the grave. “He might’ve been proud of me.”

“He was. I’m sure of it.”

“The Jack I knew would’ve told me to stop it, to go back to being a civilian. He hated me staying on after the Chronal dissociation. Hated me staying on at all really. Wanted to protect me. Don’t have much self-preservation so he had it for me.”

“I don’t like what you do Lena. You put yourself at risk everyday but I understand it. You want to change the world. I hate it when you come in hurt but I understand. I’m sure he would as well.”

“Do you really think I’m gonna change the world?”

“I think you already have.”

 

As the Shambali began to spread their message across the globe the tensions in London evened out. They didn’t stop they’d never stop until the Omnics were accepted, but the people calmed. The Omnics looked to the Shambali and Mondatta in particular for acceptance. The humans listened as well and the relations were better.

Tracer found herself spending more and more time in London. The rest of the world was falling apart but she was realising she couldn’t do it all by herself. OR-15s were being built in Numbani and could be used as police everywhere. Tracer was hoping they’d offer to work in London, having OR-15s on the police force would do wonders.

The DJ turned freedom fighter, Lucio, was fighting against Vishkar and had people rallying around him. Tracer hoped he knew what he was doing, inspiring that level of anger in people. The giant Omnic that rose out of the sea in Korea was being fought back better than ever with the help of a superstar that Tracer was almost in awe of.

Hana Song had started so young and Tracer ignored that she’d started younger. She’d not been world champion at anything until she’d received military training and had a jet around her.

Fareeha had got her hands on a state of the art fighting suit and she was making her mother’s name proud. Tracer knew Ana had never been her own mother but it felt like she had been. She was glad someone was keeping her memory alive. She couldn’t do it on her own.

So Tracer enjoyed some time off for the first time she could remember. She took a month in London, wandering the streets and understanding that she didn’t have to fix everything. She still walked around at night with a bat at hand and two pistols at her hip but she wasn’t alone anymore.

There were plenty of people who were willing to protect Omnics and they took to the streets at night. Some of them recognised her and some didn’t. They listened to her though, that was what was important. She became the voice of reason.

What they were doing was still illegal and if they were arrested not all of them would be drafted into service. They listened, they agreed and they protected all of the people in the city, human and Omnic alike.

 

Then everything changed, Winston called her. She felt her heart soar as the Overwatch logo appeared, as she was called back to fight. She talked to Winston and agreed that she’d be there the next day.

“Sorry big guy but I can’t come up today.”

“Why not?”

“Mondatta’s in London Winston! Everything is-” Tracer squealed. “This is Omnic rights Winston! Everything I worked for! The Shambali can finally spread their message and Omnics won’t have to hide!”

“Be careful Tracer, it might not be that quick.”

“But it might be! Look, I’ll be there tomorrow but I gotta go or I’ll be late.”

“Have fun.”

“I always do.” Tracer ended the call and walked into her bedroom. She pulled off the Chronal accelerator and felt the world drop out from under her for a moment. It terrified her but the terror calmed her in a strange way. She knew that if she didn’t put it back on then she was dead.

The fact that she had power over that calmed her more than it probably should.

Tracer pulled on her jacket and her leggings. This was Tracer the Overwatch agent, not Tracer the vigilante and most definitely not Lena, the child who had thought it was a game. Tracer ignored the fact that she’d never thought it was a game, she’d just never realised how important her words were and how little her actions mattered.

When she was changed Tracer raced into Kings Row and stared around in amazement. Moore was stood at the front of the crowd with a woman holding onto them tightly. Tracer smiled at that, they were happy. Moore had changed so much from the broken, beaten down Omnic she’d met fourteen years ago.

All around her Omnics and humans mingled as if there had never been a problem. They looked at peace and Tracer felt her heart soar. This was the world she’d wanted since she had first understood why the Omnics never walked around in daytime.

This was acceptance, love and peace. As Mondatta stepped out onto the platform Tracer sighed as she grinned up. This was the Omnic who had changed so much, who had tried to convince the ignorant kid she’d once been that peace was the best solution.

She ignored what she’d said in response.

She stared up Mondatta and felt the people around her nod and cheer in agreement and she was worried she was about to cry. This was her life’s work, this was why she’d gone to prison, why she forced herself to be a good fighter pilot, why she joined Overwatch, why she became their poster girl and why she didn’t stop protecting the world even now.

Then she saw someone on the rooftop.

 

As Tracer fell from the rooftop she was reminded in some bizarre way of her first mission. She wasn’t clutching a bomb anymore but she wanted to clutch her Chronal accelerator. The woman who had attacked her, who looked suspiciously like Amelie Lacroix, took aim and time seemed to slow for Tracer, even more than usual.

If the woman hit her Chronal accelerator- Tracer was rewinding before she knew it. She heard the gunshot and then screams. Her first thought was her Chronal accelerator. She patted it down and only when she knew it was intact could she think again.

She wished she didn’t have to.

She ran to the edge of the roof and saw her idol dead in her city, in the city she’d tried to protect and make better her entire life.

Tracer tackled the woman and screamed at her, ordered her to explain. The next thing she knew she was on the ground and her Chronal accelerator was flicking.

She lay on the ground for several long minutes as she sobbed. Mondatta was dead. Mondatta was dead because she couldn’t save her. Mondatta had called her a hero once.

“I’m not.” Tracer whispered. “I’ve never been a hero.” Tracer forced herself to stand and started sobbing all over again as she felt her Chronal accelerator flicker, threatening to throw her across time.

The walk back to Emily’s apartment felt like it took forever. Each step was painful and in some way she understood that she deserved that. Mondatta was dead.

When she walked in Emily stood and stared at her.

“Lena are you-”

“I failed.” Tracer said with no emotion left in her voice. “I-”

“What happened to your accelerator?” Emily stepped forwards and put a hand to it.

“Doesn’t matter.” Tracer whispered. She slunk into her bedroom and curled her knees into her body. Emily watched her go in terror.

“Lena, talk to me! Please!”

“What’s the point?”

“So you can get better.”

“Mondatta meant peace between Omnics and humans. How do you think they’ll respond to this?” Tracer wiped her eyes. “This is the first step in a war Emily. It’s a war that neither side wants. The Omnics don’t want to be subjugated but they really don’t want to kill humans. Humans don’t want to have another Omnic crisis but maybe-” Tracer trailed off. “Mondatta meant peace.”

“Lena you have to fix your accelerator.”

“I dunno how to.”

“Then you need to go to your friend!”

“Yeah.” Tracer muttered. Emily sat down next to her and sighed.

“I saw it on the TV, it wasn’t your fault.”

“If I hadn’t rewound he’d be alive.”

“And you’d be dead. You’re still a titan of Omnic rights. How do you think Omnics would react to that?”

“I don’t know.”

“This isn’t your fault Lena. This is the fault of the person who attacked Mondatta. If you hadn’t been there he would still have died.”

“Yeah.” Tracer scrubbed at her nose and sighed. “London’s going to go ape shit Emily. Nothing I say is going to help. There’s gonna be riots. Everything will- everything will fall apart.”

“And then they’ll get better. I know this is going to hurt so many people but they were the people who listened to the Shambali, they listened to peace. They listened to unity and-”

“And Mondatta was still killed! Mondatta was killed because he stood for peace! He-”

“Lena calm down.” Emily ordered. She put a hand on Tracer’s Chronal accelerator. Tracer glanced down. It was still flickering.

“I need to get to Gibraltar.”

“How are you going to do that in time?”

“Love, time’s never been a problem for me.”

 

When Tracer arrived at Gibraltar Winston was waiting for her.

“Hey big guy.” Tracer croaked out. Winston frowned.

“Are you alright?”

“Things on the fritz again.” Tracer tapped her chest and Winston frowned. “Hoping you could fix it.”

“I have a replacement you can use while I fix this.” Winston walked to one of the lockers and pulled out a similar harness.

“Thanks.” Tracer took off the broken one and pulled the new one on. It felt odd, this one hadn’t morphed to perfectly fit her body like the other one had over time.

“Lena I have to ask you, did you see who killed him?”

“She looked like Amelie Lacroix. French accent and all.”

“She died.”

“She was captured. What I reckon is that no-one outshoots Ana.”

“You think Amelie killed Ana?”

“She was always good.”

“Why do you think it would be Amelie?”

“Cause I don’t think Ana would have hesitated for anyone else.”

“I don’t know Lena.”

“It’s a theory. I’m gonna find whoever it was and I’m gonna make them fucking pay.”

 

When the attack on the museum came Tracer’s anger still hadn’t gone. She was furious at Widowmaker. She wanted to scream at her again, to demand answers to why she’d kill a peaceful monk.

When her Chronal accelerator got knocked out again she sighed before noticing the two children already hiding. She tried not to think about their age as they helped her fight. She knew that Winston and she wasn’t enough but she’d never bring children into the fight.

As the battle ended Tracer stared up at the hole in the ceiling. Of course they had to leave the party without her. She turned back and spotted the children again. They were looking at her as if she was a superhero, as if it wasn’t her fault that her city was falling into ruins.

As she watched them she felt a calm wash over her. They were children, they were what she protected day in and day out. One of them had wielded one of the most powerful weapons in the world and had just handed it back. She almost wanted to push it into his hands but she knew that wouldn’t be fair.

So instead she just parroted back the words Mondatta had used all those years ago.

“You know, the world could always use more heroes.” She saluted and then she was gone.

 

Rebuilding Overwatch was difficult. She should have expected that.

She sent out messages to the members of the Overwatch she knew and had to wait for them to reply. By the time Christmas rolled around she was no closer. She decided to bring Emily to Gibraltar to give Winston some company other than Athena.

As they sat at the table Tracer remembered that this was her family. Winston was her brother, Emily her girlfriend, this could be their home. She was home.

Two days later she got an unexpected visit. Two visitors to be exact.

Tracer got the call at six in the morning that someone was at the perimeter. She hauled herself to her feet and pulled out her pistols. She just had to be sure she’d be safe.

She blinked most of the way there and then paused as she saw the familiar lights of Genji.

“Genji!”

“Hello Lena.”

“It’s been a long time.”

“It has indeed been. I am here to join Overwatch.”

“Cool! And-” Tracer paused as she saw who was behind Genji. She felt her face pale as she stared at a Shambali monk.

“Greetings,” the monk said, “my name is Tekartha Zenyatta. Peace be upon you.”

“And you.” Tracer muttered. Zenyatta tilted his head to the side.

“I can feel discord within your soul.”

“It’s an honour to meet a member of the Shambali.” Tracer said instead of responding to Zenyatta’s response. “Mondatta was an inspiration to me!”

“To us all. I miss him greatly.”

“I- I’m sorry about that.”

“I heard you were there.” Zenyatta didn’t seem to be accusing her but she still felt the shame run through her.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save him.”

“You did what you could. None of our number blame you just as Mondatta would not have either.”

“Thank you.” Tracer felt something in her chest begin to unravel.

“How many have responded to the call?” Genji asked. Tracer sighed.

“You’re the first one.”

“I have encouraged another to join our ranks but I do not know if he will. I also wrote to Angela and asked her to return.”

“I don’t think we’re gonna get Angela back for a while. Zenyatta, you up to join as well?”

“Yes.”

“Well done, you’re our first proper Omnic.”

“Hopefully not your last.”

“Not if I have anything to do with it.” Tracer levelled her gaze at where she knew the equivalent of eyes would be. Zenyatta chuckled quietly.

“You are just as fierce as I thought you would be.”

“Lena’s always been fierce master.”

“Well you’d all better come in. Pretty cold out here.”

“Fortunately that is something neither of us worry about.” Zenyatta’s tone contained a trace of humour. Genji chuckled.

 

Tracer pulled up the people she wanted to recruit. McCree was at the top of the list, only just above Fareeha or Pharah as she was now going by. She knew Torbjorn and Reinhart would be a good addition even if Torbjorn retained her anti Omnic beliefs. She was determined to get D.Va and Lucio to join, both for the publicity and because she marvelled at what they had done.

McCree took a lot of searching but not much else. Tracer eventually found him smoking at the top of an abandoned gas station next to a collapsed railway.

“Hello Jesse.”

“Been a while Lena.” Jesse chuckled. “Wondered how long it’d take you to find me.”

“I’m rebuilding Overwatch Jesse. Ain’t gonna be the same without you.”

“Ain’t gonna be the same without Reyes.”

“Ain’t gonna be the same without any of them.” Tracer sighed and sat down next to him. “I know it’s not the same and maybe I should give up on the idea that it could ever be similar. I know the world needs Overwatch more than ever and you knew Overwatch. You knew when it messed up and you know how to fix it.”

“I ran last time everything went south. How do you know I won’t do that again?”

“Cause I trust you. I ain’t gonna say I’m gonna do everything perfect, I won’t but I gotta try. We all gotta try.”

“You have a way of convincing people Lena.”

“If that’s what it took to convince you then you weren’t against the idea.”

Jesse chuckled at that and stood, stretching.

“Did you come out here just for me?”

“Nah. Need your help getting Fareeha back.”

Jesse grinned at that.

“Rebuilding Overwatch without the mistakes?”

“Ana shouldn’t’ve stopped her fighting.”

“Don’t talk ill of the dead.”

“Don’t ignore the fuck ups of the past just so you can feel better about yourself.”

“So where do we go after Fareeha?”

“Korea.”

“I ain’t even gonna ask.”

 

D.Va didn’t take much convincing. Her government took a lot of convincing. Winston had to explain what this new Overwatch stood for and that D.Va would still return to fight the Omnic in the sea. Winston even promised that Overwatch would help when the time came.

D.Va settled in fine until the nightmares started to come, of snow and ice and death. Tracer helped when she could but she quickly realised that everyone in Overwatch was broken in some way. It made her feel a lot better as she saw London continue to break down.

She got the call from London as she was returning with Lucio next to her.

“Lena?”

“Yeah. Who is this?”

“Th-this is Jeanette.”

“Is there a problem with Moore?” Tracer asked, sitting up in worry. Jeanette was Moore’s fiancé, as close as they could get to marriage in England.

“It-” Jeanette broke into tears and Tracer stood and began to pace.

“Okay Jeanette calm down.”

“Is there a problem?” Lucio asked in worry. Tracer shook her head.

“Jeanette, can you put Moore on?”

“They- they’re dead!” Jeanette cried out. Tracer felt her legs buckle under her and she barely caught herself on the table.

“N-no. Moore-” Tracer gaped. “How?”

“Omnic rights.”

“No!” Tracer shouted. “They wouldn’t-”

“Because of m-me. Because of us.” Jeanette broke off into sobs. “They said we were freaks and Moore was a- a traitor. They just- they broke into our house and beat them apart.”

“You must- oh my god.” Tracer didn’t feel sorrow, it just felt like someone had kicked her in the gut. She didn’t even understand what she felt.

“I don’t know what to do! I- I’m not safe here!”

“Okay yeah. I- I can give you a number and-” Tracer sighed before reading off Emily’s number. “Call her. She- tell her your name and she’ll protect you.”

“Thank you Lena. I- I didn’t know what to do.”

“Remember this isn’t your fault.” It was Tracer’s.

“Goodbye Lena.”

“Bye.”

As Tracer hung up she noticed how much her hand was shaking. She sat down on the floor and reached to her face. She grabbed the glasses and threw them across the floor. She put her head in her hands and began to sob, tears that wracked her body and made her body ache.

She didn’t know how long she stayed like that but eventually she heard soft music playing. Tracer looked up to see Lucio nervously watching her as he pumped out a soft song.

“Sorry-” Tracer sniffed. “Sorry about that.”

“What happened?”

“A- a friend,” Tracer didn’t know how to explain what Moore was, “died.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I’ve known them since I was twelve. They just died at- at the hands of Omnic rights.”

“Didn’t you make that?”

“It’s grown and I can’t do a thing about what they’re doing now.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I- I don’t know.” Tracer chuckled gently. “They were- they were my family until I joined the RAF. I’ve gotta make a statement. I’ll order the Omnic rights movement to stand down but then-” Tracer rubbed her forehead. “They never tell you how tough this bit is.”

“Yeah. I didn’t get a crash course in any of this either.” Lucio sat down next to Tracer and she felt the song relax her. “The way I see it, you’re gonna mess up and you just gotta try and make sure you try to fix it.”

“I think you’re gonna fit in at Overwatch.”

“I’m glad.” Lucio smiled.

Later that day Tracer took the podium and told the Omnic rights movement to lay down their weapons. She told them peaceful protest was the way to go and that if Omnic rights thought killing Omnics would get them anywhere then they didn’t understand the movement.

The backlash was immediate. The London Omnics shouted that it had been her ideas, she was the one that radicalised them. She wanted to scream that she’d been a stupid kid, that she’d never looked at the big picture until she was forced to.

Instead she just accepted the criticism and blocked herself into her room. She cried like she hadn’t for years. Everything was falling apart and this time it really was her fault.

When she had no more tears she stood as she always had to. She wanted to collapse but she couldn’t. She had a name to live up to and now she had Moore’s legacy to live up to as well.

The cause wouldn’t die until every person with a scrap of good in their heart was dead.

Tracer was going to protect those people until she was dead.

The next recruit was Reinhart. He brought Overwatch together in a way that made Tracer want to cry all over again. He was loud and boisterous and he pulled them out of the nightmares and flashback with a gentle hand where it was needed and a booming laugh when that was needed.

Tracer could see how old, how tired he was but she didn’t comment. It wasn’t her business.

The last recruit she’d sent the call out for was Torbjorn. He appeared with a surprise.

 

“Perimeter breach.” Athena said with a calm voice. “Torbjorn seems to have arrived.”

“I’ll go meet him.” Tracer piped up. Genji turned to her at that and Winston frowned.

“Is that a good plan?”

“I’ve gotta put all of that stuff behind me. If he still thinks that stuff then-” Tracer shrugged, “I won’t like it but we need him.”

No-one else said anything and Tracer stood. She ran and blinked to the edge of the compound and then paused. Torbjorn was stood there but what was far more interesting was the Omnic standing behind him. The Bastion unit, to be precise.

“Oxton!” Torbjorn grunted out. “Are you going to stare at him all day or can we get inside?”

“What happened to Omnics have no rights?”

“This one made me reconsider.”

The Bastion unit beeped something and Torbjorn grunted in response.

“Can it talk?”

“Not really. He can bleep and bloop until the bloody cows come home.”

“Hello love.” Tracer stepped towards the unit. She was surprised as it held out a hand. She took it and shook it. “Nice to make your acquaintance.” The Bastion beeped out something in response. Tracer turned and led them back inside.

The room paused as the Bastion entered. It paused in the doorway and beeped and blooped a few times.

“Friends,” Reinhart started, “how is there a Bastion here?”

“He walked through the ocean and I stumbled over him. Decided he could do some good here.”

“Fascinating.” Zenyatta muttered as he approached the Bastion. The Bastion beeped and whirred and Zenyatta responded with similar sounds. The Bastion seemed to be excited by that as the beeps sped up.

“What’s he saying master?”

“He says that he wants to make the world a better place. He remembers what he did in the crisis under the God programs and wants to repay the debt he created.”

“That’s what he’s saying?” Torbjorn scoffed. “I thought he was asking for an oil can.”

There was a sad whirr from Bastion at that. Tracer chuckled.

“Nice to have another Omnic on the team.”

 

A few months later Orisa joined their ranks. Efi joined Winston in the lab and Tracer was happier than she had been in a long time. She had her eyes out for a few more people to join, there was a hacker out in Mexico who could help, a Russian weight lifting champion and a couple of insane Australians. That wasn’t to mention the two mercenaries who were arriving later that day.

An urgent call had come in from London, some idiots were pushing a payload with an EMP on it and they were going to push it into the underground. Tracer was ready to fight tooth and nail against them. If she died then she died for her city, for her country, for her world.

There were a group of Omnics running from the underground and Tracer spotted Cowan among them. He paused for a second before he saluted. She paused. He was accepting her, accepting what she had done for the Omnics, what she’d sacrificed. She saluted in return.

As the team ran towards Big Ben Tracer felt that same exhilaration she’d had on the long nights armed only with a baseball bat.

The world wasn’t perfect. It never would be. The Omnics were still subjugated but that was getting better by the day. The world was on the brink of crisis and yet everywhere Tracer looked she saw love and compassion, she saw terror of trying to keep them together fuelling hatred but it was love that powered it.

Omnic rights hadn’t taken a single life since Moore and the family Lena had once had was safe because of Tracer.

Overwatch led the peaceful incorporation of Omnics into human population. If there was a threat against Omnics Overwatch stepped in. They were the heroes young Lena had always wanted them to be. They were those heroes because of Tracer.

Tracer grinned. She hadn’t managed to save Mondatta or Moore but she’d managed to save Hana, Bastion, Mei and she wasn’t going to stop until it killed her.

“Strike Commander Oxton,” Winston’s voice came over the comms, “Are we ready?” Tracer grinned as she looked at her team, half human, half Omnic and all people.

“We’re always ready.”

 

From a rooftop a man and a woman watched the fight. The woman held her sniper rifle, ready to intercept when needed. She stared down it with the one good eye she had. The man didn’t bother picking up his pulse rifle. He watched through his visor as the woman who was the closest to his daughter fought.

“You should be proud of her.” The woman said.

“I am.” The man replied with a smile. “Of course I am.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I still haven't read the comic so I don't know how much of this is accurate but still. This fic is now no longer canon (almost definitely.)  
> I was 14 000 words in when I found out...  
> So if this feels rushed then I'm sorry. This was all written and edited in two days. I might come back and edit it fully or I might not. It depends on how different the comic is and if I have time. (This was a procrastination fic.)  
> I have a stack of 45 books next to my bed and the author surnames are the Omnic's names. I am terrified the books will fall on me in my sleep but I am too lazy to put them on a bookshelf.  
> Also, shout out to cerealmilk who write the 'there's blood in the water' verse because I now cannot imagine D.Va in any other way.  
> See you next time!


End file.
